


ASP:  The Serpent's Mark

by Binsfeld



Series: The Mongoose [3]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Gen, Harry Potter Next Generation, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-04
Updated: 2018-10-15
Packaged: 2019-05-18 06:33:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 55,400
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14847599
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Binsfeld/pseuds/Binsfeld
Summary: Al is excited about his third year at Hogwarts. It means Hogsmeade, new classes, and best of all, Lily starts school as well. But things get complicated quickly. There's tension in the family, a strange mark starts appearing in random places inside the school and out, and Al is getting butterflies in his stomach whenever his brother's friend Vincent so much as smiles in his direction. At least Scorpius, for once, seems oddly helpful... Which could come in handy, as the bully Evaine sets her sights on a much easier target.





	1. Snakes in the Alley

  

It was a week before the start of Al's third year, and Diagon Alley was full to bursting with students and their families shopping for supplies and meeting up with friends. Lily's eyes were practically popping out of her head as she followed Al down Diagon Alley, her hand clutching his. Every now and then she'd pull him over to look at something in a window or squeal about something magical she'd just seen.

Al had offered to take her around on a quick tour while Harry and Ginny waited in line to pay for their schoolbooks, and James had predictably run off to meet with Fred and Roxie. Al was a little glad it was just him showing Lily around, if he was honest with himself. He was willing to be more patient with her, and had been looking forward to seeing her reaction to Diagon Alley.

Plus, James had been more of a prat than usual during the summer, and he didn't feel much like talking to his brother at the moment. James was still sore about Al losing Gryffindor the House Cup during his second year.

“Brooms!” Lily squealed, hauling on Al's arm and pointing at the broom shop. “Al, can we look?”

“You can't have one yet,” Al reminded her, amused. She'd gotten a practice broom the previous Christmas; it didn't do anything more exciting than hover two feet off the ground, but she'd floated around the yard on it constantly. “First years aren't allowed to have brooms or try out for Quidditch. Dad was... a special exception.”

“I just want to look,” she wheedled, dragging him over. She'd already been to get her robes fitted, and had insisted on wearing them around, proud to be recognized as a new student. She looked like an excitable little blackbird as she pressed her nose to the glass, bouncing on her toes. “I'm definitely trying out for the team next year,” she said with absolute certainty. “I'm gonna be great at it, just like Mum and Dad. Just like James.”

“Not me,” Al said firmly, looking in at the brooms without any longing. “Quidditch is loads of fun to watch, but I'd rather swallow a Quaffle than be Seeker again.”

“Like anyone would _let_ you after how bad you played last year,” sneered a familiar voice behind him.

Grimacing, Al turned slowly on his heel. “Evaine,” he greeted in a noncommittal tone of voice.

Evaine Engelton had never been very pleasant in general, and had picked on Al once or twice during second year because he was an easier target than the person she really despised-- James. She'd never forgiven any of them for the humiliations the House of Judgement had rained down on the Slytherins during her first year. Al had been a bit sympathetic at first, but that had waned quickly.

Al had grown an inch or two, but Evaine had shot up in height already. She looked closer to fourteen than thirteen, and could probably look James right in the eye. Her two friends hung back, snickering. Evaine curled her lip, looking Al up and down as if he were an ugly stray dog she'd run across. She'd cropped her dark hair very short so that it barely touched her jaw, and her amber eyes were meaner than ever. “Who's your little friend, Potter? Tell her to stop smudging the shop glass with her dirty nose.” Her friends broke out in peals of laughter.

Lily came to stand beside Al, glaring up at Evaine pugnaciously. “I'm his sister,” she said, affronted. “Who are _you_ , the Mayor of Rudeville?”

Al winced internally, shifting slightly so he was between the two of them. Lily was usually shy and sweet, but her temper often turned her into a little pitbull when pushed.

“Thinks she's ten feet tall and bulletproof,” Harry had muttered in amusement once after she'd squared off against her older cousin Fred in a fit of indignant rage. The Muggle phrase had puzzled Al at the time, but now he only wished Lily would go back to looking at brooms and not picking fights in the middle of Diagon Alley.

Evaine narrowed her eyes at Lily. “Another Potter. Just what Hogwarts _doesn't_ need. So, are you just as mean and dumb as your brothers?”

“Get lost, Evaine,” Al snapped before Lily could respond.

“Yeah, don't you have puppies to kick or something?” They turned as an older boy approached, dark-skinned, lean, and very handsome. Evaine faltered, glaring at him. Then abruptly she gave a toss of her head and spun on her heel.

“Whatever. Better watch your back, Potter. _Both_ of you.”

“Hey, Vincent,” Al said with a relieved smile. “Thanks.”

“That girl is nothing but trouble,” Vincent growled, watching Evaine and her friends flounce off. “I can't believe she's still trying to pick a fight with you.” He turned back and offered Lily one of his bright, infectious smiles. “You must be Lily. Heard you're going to be a famous Seeker someday.”

Lily flushed, looking down at her toes. “Yeah.”

Vincent laughed. “C'mon. Let's go grab some ice cream. Then you guys can help me pick out an owl. I've been saving up all summer. Mum thought I was crazy when I said I wanted one. Finally said I'd have to pay for it myself if I wanted one so badly.” Vincent's mother was a Muggle, and was still trying to wrap her head around the things her son could do.

“And I want to see Uncle George's shop!” Lily put in eagerly, practically skipping ahead of them down the crowded street.

They grabbed some cones at Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour and wandered down the street at a stroll as they ate their ice cream, waving to familiar students and looking in windows.

At one point, after a young Gryffindor had called hello to both of them, Vincent leaned down slightly and said quietly, “You see? I told you they'd be over it by now. No one's going to care about losing last year's House Cup. Just try to get as many points as you can this year. Dazzle Flitwick in Charms class and that should do it.”

Al nodded, but couldn't respond. Vincent's face so near his own had left him curiously flustered. He'd been looking forward to their meet-up all summer. Vincent was really more James's friend than his, even if Vincent _had_ hung out with Al and his friends for a good portion of Al's second year. He'd been half afraid that Vincent would no longer be interested in hanging out with a lowerclassman.

Lily led them to Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes, claiming she wanted something to play tricks on anyone “as nasty as that Evaine girl”. While Al privately thought their parents would disapprove, he let her drag him inside. Even if they didn't buy anything, looking at all the tricks and jokes was always amusing, and sometimes his uncle George was there to say hello to.

George wasn't, but his children were. As Lily and Vincent laughed over a book that shouted insults, Al wove his way through the crowded shop to where Roxanne and Fred were arguing over whether to buy more canary creams or rubber wands.

“Hey,” Al greeted them a little warily. They had been angry with him the previous year for splitting up the points he'd earned in the Hogwarts Marathon-- Fred in particular. He had avoided them the few times they'd been over to visit during the summer holiday, and was not sure what to expect. “Planning on scaring the pants off the first years their first night?”

Roxie flashed him a grin. “Only get one chance before Neville shows up and confiscates everything he can find. I think he lets us get away with the first night on purpose, but he seems to think we'll use this junk in class, too.”

Fred barely glanced at him. “James is over by the love potions.”

Al deflated slightly. Was Fred still prickly? “Oh.” He turned, scanning the crowd. Belatedly he realized what his cousin had said. “Wait, what? Why? Mum's always told us to steer clear of that rubbish.”

The siblings laughed. “It's because Emma is over there,” Roxie explained.

Al stared at them blankly, but they had already returned to their previous argument. He made his way back to Vincent. “Who's Emma?”

“What?” Vincent looked up, puzzled, from where he was checking the label on a set of Extendable Ears. “Who?”

“Roxie said something about James going to talk to some girl named Emma.” He paused. “By the love potions.”

Vincent's friendly smile slipped a bit. “Emma Robinson,” he explained, setting the Ears down. “She was a Chaser on the Ravenclaw Quidditch team last year, remember? They were always heckling each other in the halls and stuff. She's a fifth-year now, I think. And cute. Maybe James thinks he has a shot with her. I hear she likes some Prefect, though. Maybe that's why she's hovering over the love potions.”

Al blinked, a little taken aback. He'd never really considered the fact that James might be interested in dating girls already. Sometimes it seemed like James's only passion was Quidditch. He said as much, and Vincent gave a casual shrug, studying a box of puking pastils intently.

“Well, he's found the next best thing, I suppose. A girl who plays Quidditch.”

“Yeah.” Al fell quiet. It had suddenly occurred to him that Vincent might start dating soon as well. He'd never mentioned any girls before, or at least not that Al remembered. But what if he met a girl he liked? What if he started seeing her so much he didn't have time to hang around Al and his friends any longer? It was a deeply disturbing thought.

“Vincent!” An older boy Al vaguely recognized as a fellow Gryffindor came over, all smiles. “Good to see you, mate.”

“Bernard,” Vincent said with some surprise. “I thought you weren't due back from vacation for another couple days.”

“Mum got sick, had to return early. Say, you're still going to try for the Quidditch team this year, yeah? I was thinking I might try... Oh, hullo, Potter. How about you, you trying for Seeker again?”

Al winced, recalling the final game of his second year. “No, I don't think so,” he said quickly. Then, hoping to avoid an awkward conversation, he turned and pretended to study a box of screeching erasers Lily was looking at.

Bernard ended up talking to Vincent for some time, even calling over a few other fourth-years and making it difficult for Vincent to escape the conversation without seeming rude. Then James showed up, and it was one big group of popular kids catching up and horsing around, and Al might as well have been a fly on the wall.

“C'mon,” he muttered to Lily. “We told Mom and Dad we'd meet them to get your wand.”

Mention of a wand was more than enough to get Lily moving. She put down what she'd been looking at and hurried towards the exit. Al caught Vincent's eye just long enough to wave goodbye, then followed Lily out.

 _So much for spending the whole time hanging out,_ Al thought with some irritation. James must have come over on purpose, surely. He found it annoying sometimes that Vincent was pals with his little brother.

Lily kept drifting away a bit to peek into windows, and at one point she lingered long enough outside Obscurus Books that Al impatiently went back to her. “Come on, we need to go.”

“What's that?” she asked in a small voice, pointing.

Al looked, puzzled by her sudden tension. On the wall under the windowsill, almost small enough to be taken as a smudge at a casual glance, was what looked like a rough drawing of a snake coiling around a wand, snapping it in half. For a moment he felt an odd chill.

“Is that... you know, the image Dad used to talk about?” Lily whispered, her eyes wide.

“ _No_ ,” Al said quickly. “That's not the Dark Mark. I've seen pictures of it in a textbook. This is just someone's doodle. It's nothing.” He took her hand, steering her away from the shop. The last thing they needed was her magical day in Diagon Alley marred by some jerk's idea of clever graffiti.

He led Lily down the street to Ollivander's, but their parents weren't there yet, so they sat down on a nearby bench to wait and watch the crowd flow by.

“Ollivander, he's got to be _ancient_ by now, right?” Lily asked, kicking her feet and looking around eagerly for her parents. She seemed to have gotten over her temporary fright. “He gave Dad his wand, and Mom, too.”

“He died, I think. It's his son that runs the shop now,” Al said distractedly. He was studying the faces of those passing, wondering if Felicia or Andrew were shopping today as well. He'd forgotten to ask in his letters, he realized with a twinge of guilt. He'd been looking forward to showing Lily around and meeting up with Vincent, and hadn't thought about trying to meet with his other friends as well.

The bell on the door to Ollivander's rang, and Al glanced over automatically. A tall, thin man was stepping out, his shock of white-blond hair combed neatly back. He had a pinched face that looked somehow familiar. Then a boy, presumably his son, followed him out, also skinny and pale, and Al gave a start of surprise.

The Malfoys.

Curious, Lily followed his stare. Now a woman was coming out of the shop, smoothing down her robes and talking in a quiet but pleasant voice. She was dark-haired and pretty, and ruffled her son's hair affectionately as she stepped onto the sidewalk.

“Who's that?” Lily asked, a little too loudly.

The Malfoys looked over at them.

“Hey, Scorpius,” Al said lamely. It was very odd seeing the boy outside of school, and even more unsettling seeing him with his family. To see him treated with affection by his mother and to come face to face with the man who had made his father's school years a torment was a little surreal. Like Al, Scorpius seemed to have grown a little, though he still had the gangliness of adolescence.

“A friend of yours, Scorpius?” Mrs. Malfoy asked brightly. Her husband, however, was staring at Al with his mouth pressed tightly shut. Perhaps he could see the family resemblance and knew just whose son Al was. Al couldn't help but notice that his eyes were bloodshot and there was a faint discoloration on his face as if he'd used magic or cosmetics to cover up bruises. It reminded him sharply of his own father after certain tough jobs when Al had been younger.

“Just someone from Potions class,” Scorpius muttered.

“Come along,” Draco Malfoy said brusquely. “We still need to get your robes.” And he led them down the street with long strides.

Lily watched them go, mouth hanging slightly open. “Wow,” she said at last. “Scorpius? So that's Draco Malfoy, the git Dad used to talk about?”

Al suppressed a grin. “He says Mr. Malfoy isn't nearly as bad as he used to be,” he reminded her.

“I wonder what they were doing in Ollivander's,” Lily mused, seeming not to have heard him. “I mean, Scorpius has already got a wand, hasn't he?”

Al blinked. “I don't know,” he admitted. He'd only ever seen first years going into Ollivanders during his trips to Diagon Alley the last two years. He looked in the direction Scorpius had gone, puzzled.

“There you are!” Coming from the opposite direction were Harry and Ginny, smiling. “Ready to find your wand, Lily?”

She bounced to her feet in excitement, all questions about the Malfoys vanishing. Al got up as well. “I'm going to drop by the Magical Menagerie and get some treats for Trinity.”

“All right, dear.” Ginny smoothed back his hair with her hand, reminding him briefly of Scorpius's own mother. She'd seemed nice, and surely a nice woman wouldn't have married an unkind man? Perhaps Draco really had changed. Certainly Scorpius, though annoying, had never shown himself to be cruel or unhappy, so his home life couldn't be bad.

“We'll meet you and your brother at the Apothecary in about half an hour,” Harry said, opening the door for Lily, who was practically dancing in place.

“Right.” Firmly shoving thoughts of Scorpius from his mind, Al set off down the street. As he passed the Owl Emporium, he felt some guilt for having left Vincent behind in the joke shop. He'd been, in hindsight, unreasonably annoyed at Vincent being so distracted by his other friends. Vincent had always been fairly popular, and he couldn't exactly tell everyone to get lost just so he could hang out with James Potter's kid brother. He'd seemed excited about getting an owl, and Al had wanted to help him pick one out. With that in mind, he backtracked, deciding he'd wait outside the shop for Vincent.

He didn't have long to wait. Vincent came threading through the crowd not five minutes later, and seemed pleased to find Al waiting for him. “Sorry about that,” he said sheepishly. “Bernard and I got pretty chummy last year during Herbology and Divination, and he wanted to tell me all about his vacation.”

Al shrugged. “It's all right. I had to get Lily to Ollivander's anyway. She's stoked about her wand selection.” He paused, noticing the distracted look on his friend's face. “What's wrong?”

“Nothing, just... odd rumors some of the lads mentioned back there after you left. Martin Heed's mum works at the Ministry, and he says there's been rumors of some odd disappearances this summer. Even Oliver, who's Muggle-born, said he saw something in the news about some woman just vanishing from inside her locked apartment a couple weeks ago.” He paused, staring off into space with a worried frown. “It's probably nothing. It's just... Well, some of the grown-ups are worried. I guess you'd know why better than most.”

Al nodded, his skin prickling. He'd heard the stories from his parents. Disappearances had been common during both Wizarding Wars. “This can't be anything like that,” he said firmly. “It's just coincidence, that's all. Voldemort's gone. Nearly all his surviving Death Eaters are in Azkaban.”

“Yeah,” Vincent said. “It's that 'nearly' part that's got me a bit worried.”

They lapsed into an uneasy silence for a few moments, then Vincent gave himself a shake and offered Al an embarrassed grin. “You're right. It's probably a coincidence or something. Those days are over, your dad saw to that. Come on, let's find the most awesome owl in the shop. Well... the most _affordable_ awesome owl, anyway.”

As Al was nodding in agreement, he caught a glimpse of a familiar face across the street. It was a girl, small for her age, with a long braid and large glasses. She seemed to be staring at them, though she was too far away to have possibly heard them. Al felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up.

Teresa Hernandez. Rumor was that her mother had been a famous spy for the Death Eaters and had fled to America, only returning years later so her only daughter could attend Hogwarts. But nothing had ever been proven, and surely the Headmaster would not have allowed Teresa entrance if the rumors were true. Still, she gave him the creeps. She was very quiet, and had a steady, unnerving gaze. She'd also displayed surprising power during the Hogwarts Marathon, or so his friends had told him afterwards.

A moment later she had looked away and was wandering down the street without a backward look. Al shuddered and hurried into the Emporium. _Stop it_ , he told himself firmly. _All that talk about the old wars has you spooked._

There had never been any real proof that Teresa's mother had anything to do with Death Eaters. And Teresa had never so much as jinxed anyone at school that he knew of, not even during the mess with the fifth House in his first year.

He poured all his attention into helping Vincent pick out an owl, and by the time they left with a handsome red hawk owl, he had almost completely forgotten about the whole thing.

 

 


	2. A Family of Gryffindors

Felicia had done her shopping early, as it turned out, and Andrew had gone at the last minute, so Al did not see his friends until he boarded the Hogwarts Express a week later. Lily nearly didn't make it onto the train in time. Their parents were misty-eyed at saying their farewells to their youngest, and Ginny hugged Lily so many times she finally had to wriggle free and bound up the train steps just before the whistle blew.

Lily waved at a window until the train had sped off and left the platform behind. When she realized Al was already heading down the carriage, she rushed after him. “Can I sit with you?” she implored. “James is with Fred and some of his friends, and I don't know where else to sit.”

“Sure, if there's room,” Al said distractedly, checking compartments.

“Here, Al,” Rose called, popping her head out of one. She smiled at Lily as the two approached. “You excited?”

Lily smiled back quickly, obviously trying to hide the fact that her parents' tearful goodbyes had almost brought her to tears as well. “Yes!”

Al stepped aside as Rose ducked out of the compartment. “You're not sitting with us?”

She paused guiltily. “Well... it's already getting crowded in there, and with Lily, too...” She glanced down the carriage. “There's a few Ravenclaw girls I thought I'd sit with.”

“Oh. All right.” It would be strange not having Rose in the same compartment like she had been the last couple years, but it made sense that his cousin had made other friends in her own House.

Lily watched her go, tugging thoughtfully on a lock of red hair. “Were you upset when Rose got Ravenclaw?”

Al shrugged. “At first. But we still hang out a lot at school, and she seems happy there. Besides, I've made friends in Gryffindor, too. And so will you. C'mon.”

Andrew and Felicia were already seated, and so was Hugo. Al paused on seeing him, surprised. Wouldn't Rose rather have stayed to sit with her brother? He looked as excited and nervous as Lily.

“He was whining a minute ago about how he doesn't want to be seen with his big sister like he's a baby,” Felicia said quietly while Hugo was distracted swapping chocolate frog cards with Andrew. “I think he hurt her feelings a little, to be honest.”

Al frowned. Hugo sometimes had a bad habit of speaking without thinking, and didn't always notice any negative effects his words had until they were pointed out to him. He sat down across from Felicia while Lily sat next to him, giving the older students a shy hello.

“Is there _really_ a pool on the roof of the astronomy tower, Albus?” Hugo asked with deep skepticism. “Rose kept talking about it, but I can't tell if she's pulling my leg.”

“What? Oh. Yeah.” Al managed to keep a straight face. This was a prank Fred had been pulling on first years since managing to get Louis in trouble with it a few years ago. “Best kept secret at Hogwarts.”

“First-years aren't really allowed up there, though,” Andrew said seriously. “So don't get any funny ideas.”

“I won't,” Hugo said quickly, but he had an eager glint to his eye. Al looked away to hide his grin.

“Al, can you teach me some jinxes this year?” Lily asked abruptly.

Al was taken aback. “What? Why?”

“Because of that Evaine girl. I mean... because of other kids _like_ her. What if some snotty kid tries to pick on me? I want to be able to stand up for myself.”

Al and Felicia exchanged a frown. “You should probably just tell a Professor if that happens.”

“What good would that do?” Lily wheedled. “C'mon, if you don't, I'll just ask James. I know he learned some great ones from Fred.”

“You can stand up for yourself without resorting to jinxes and hexes,” Felicia soothed.

“Mom and Dad would send you a Howler in two seconds flat if they found out you'd jinxed someone in the halls,” Al said. “Especially after the trouble James got into his second year.”

Lily slumped in her seat with a sulky look, then finally asked, “Can we let Trinity out? I want to pet her.”

While Lily and Hugo played with Al's cat, the others discussed their new courses. Al and Felicia would be sharing Care of Magical Creatures, while Andrew and Al had Muggle Studies together.

“I hope Hagrid's got some really good beasts,” Felicia gushed. “Like unicorns or fairies or... or pegasi or something.”

“Peg-what?” Andrew said blankly.

“Pegasi. I think it's the plural of pegasus...” Felicia began flipping through a book entitled _Strange and Wonderful Animals of the Magical World_. Al recognized it from his list of course books. “Anyway, I can't wait. It's going to be so fascinating.”

“I hope it's more fascinating than deadly,” Al said dryly. “Dad used to tell me about the insane monsters Hagrid brought to his classes.”

Andrew rolled his eyes. “Which is why I'm taking Divination instead.”

“Al, what's the Sorting really like?” Lily asked suddenly. “Can't you tell me now? We're already on our way to school, so it's not like you're really _spoiling_ anything, right?”

Al hesitated, looking at his sister. Even Hugo was listening hard.

To tell or not to tell? His father had revealed to him at the beginning of his own first year that he could make a request of the Sorting Hat and that it would take his wishes into consideration, at least. But he had been scared stiff because of James teasing him. Lily and Hugo looked eager and curious, but only a little nervous. Maybe it would be best to let them just experience it themselves. Besides, Lily was obviously going to get Gryffindor like her brothers and her parents. It was Hugo who should be nervous. Would he want to end up in Ravenclaw like his sister, or Gryffindor like most of his cousins?

“You'll see in a few hours,” he said finally. “It's not a big deal, don't worry.”

“Not a big deal?” Hugo groaned. “You're stuck with whatever House you end up with for good, right? I don't want to get stuck in Hufflepuff or Slytherin. Heck, I don't think I'm even smart enough for Ravenclaw, either.”

“Then what are you worried about?” Al asked a little sharper than he intended. The Sorting Hat had nearly placed him in Hufflepuff, and he'd grown to like many of them. “You'll likely end up in Gryffindor in that case. And by the way, Hufflepuff has got a lot of decent people in it.”

“Yeah, like Louis!” Lily said stoutly.

Looking at Hugo's grimace, Al reconsidered his decision not to give advice about the Sorting, but just then the compartment door rattled open.

The boy at the door hesitated, looking in at the crowded seats without speaking. His square face was already dotted with pimples and there was a dark stain on the front of his shirt, as if he'd spilled something there recently. He was surprisingly broad in the shoulders for his age, and stood stooped over slightly as if trying to take up less space. Then he saw Andrew and his face brightened up with hope.

“Can I sit with you guys?” he asked haltingly.

“Hey, Dustin,” Andrew greeted, eyeing the stain curiously. “Yeah, we can squeeze and make room.”

“Thanks,” Dustin said with great relief, dropping into the seat next to Felicia.

“This is Dustin Yew,” Andrew said with a nod. “We grew up in the same neighborhood. He was in our Potions class last year, I dunno if you ever spoke. The Slytherin he was sitting with almost poisoned him more than once with botched assignments. He couldn't stand that Dustin was better than he was.” He introduced the others quickly, then cleared his throat. “So, uh... what's with the shirt, Dustin?”

“Oh...” Dustin flushed, blotting at the stain uselessly with a crumpled handkerchief. “Ran into that Engelton girl and some of her friends. She 'accidentally' elbowed me and I spilled my cocoa everywhere. By the time I cleaned it off the floor, all the other compartments were full.” He sighed. “There's a spell to get rid of stains that my mum uses, but I don't know it.” He looked around hopefully.

Al shook his head. “Sorry.”

“Oh, well,” Dustin said glumly. “I suppose it won't show once I put my robes on.” He saw Trinity stretched out on Hugo's lap and perked up. “Oh, wicked. I wish my folks had let me get a cat. Can I pet him?”

“Her,” Lily corrected. Trinity eyed Dustin thoughtfully, then got up, stretched each leg, and meandered over to his lap, to his delight.

Dustin was a little reserved, but nice enough, and they all soon fell back into talking about their classes and what possible monstrosities Hagrid might unleash on them. Then the conversation turned to Quidditch, which Al was happy to talk about until tryouts were brought up.

“I thought I might try out,” Dustin said without looking up from Trinity. “I don't really know if I'm a good enough flyer, but I think I might have a chance at being a Beater anyhow.”

“I'm not playing this year,” Al said firmly, throwing a look at Andrew. “So don't even ask.”

Andrew shrugged. “I wasn't gonna. It just seemed to stress you out too much anyway. You can watch from the stands with us this year.”

“Speaking of watching from the stands,” Felicia said eagerly, “I wonder what this year's Marathon is going to be like. D'you suppose you'll be in it again, Al?”

“I dunno, I don't think it'll look fair if Shacklebolt doesn't give other kids a chance at it. What about you, are you hoping to get picked for it?”

She shuddered. “Are you crazy? Do you know what would've happened if I'd had to go up against a golem like you did? I'd probably have just curled up and _died_.”

Dustin nodded emphatically, but Andrew disagreed. “I want to get picked,” he said. “After all that practice we did last year... And we'll be learning even more stuff this year!”

“Then you'd better get chummy with someone from another House,” Felicia pointed out. “That's one of the traits they look for.”

“Uh, hello? Rose?”

“Oh yeah.”

Then the snack trolley came by and everyone quickly dug for pocket change.

As they all munched happily on the various treats they'd split up amongst themselves, Dustin plucked up the courage to ask, “So, um, is anyone going to the Carnival?”

Everyone looked at him blankly, except for Andrew. “Yes! I can't wait. I think even my folks are excited.” He looked around at the others in surprise. “Yanno... the Wizarding Carnival? It's finally on its tour of Europe again...?” He jerked his head at Felicia. “I understand _her_ not knowing, I mean, her folks are Muggles. But are you seriously telling me you lot haven't heard about it?”

“Enlighten us,” Al said dryly.

“It's this big magical carnival, isn't it? For witches and wizards all over the world. Some gang of friends put it together about... five years ago, I think? They've been touring the world, and they'll be in Europe at Christmas!” Andrew stared off into space with a dreamy expression on his chocolate-covered face. “I can't wait. My folks promised I could go so long as I don't get into trouble at school before the holidays. I saw an article about it a few weeks back, it's got rave reviews. Supposed to be pretty incredible. They've got rides that'll scare the hair right off your head-- prob'ly literally –and games and concerts and any kind of treat you can think of. I saved up my pocket money all summer for it.”

Dustin was nodding eagerly. “I have cousins in America who went last year. They sent a postcard, it looks wild. I'm definitely going. They had a couple posters up in Diagon Alley, didn't you see?”

Lily and Al exchanged excited looks.

“I'm going to write home tomorrow,” Lily said, practically bouncing in her seat. “Maybe Mom and Dad will take us, too!”

“Yeah!” Hugo looked equally enthused. “I'll write my folks too... I wonder if they'll even let me ride the rides, gosh.. if they're that scary...”

They all talked excitedly about the Carnival and the Hogwarts Marathon for the rest of the trip, but as the train pulled into the station at Hogsmeade, Lily and Hugo became nervous balls of energy. Lily was dancing around so much Al had to help her yank her robes over her head.

“Right, just go to Hagrid, he'll be taking all the first-years across the lake on boats,” he explained, steering her down the packed carriage. “I'll save a seat for you at the table for after you get Sorted.”

He waved goodbye as she and Hugo hurried over towards Hagrid's massive form on the platform, then let Trinity jump up to his shoulders and followed his friends towards the horseless carriages. He caught a glimpse of Vincent climbing into a carriage with James, Fred, Roxanne, and a girl he didn't recognize, then turned to claim the next one. “Mind if I ride with you?” Dustin asked, looking just a little pathetic.

“Uh, yeah, sure.”

He let Dustin climb aboard ahead of him, and Andrew said in an undertone, “Dustin didn't really have any close friends that I know of, except for one bloke who just got bored with him or something and stopped talking to him near the end of last year. I feel bad for the guy, yanno?”

“He seems nice,” whispered Felicia sympathetically. “Maybe we should try to hang out with him a little this year.”

Al felt a similar sympathetic twinge. He remembered being fearful he'd never make friends of his own, having grown up so close with his many cousins. He felt he'd been lucky to befriend Felicia so quickly, and then Andrew. “Yeah, let's sit with him at the table.”

“And he'll be useful helping with Potions homework,” Andrew chortled, hauling himself up into the carriage.

“Oh for heaven's sake,” Felicia huffed.

 

~*~

 

Al tried to catch Vincent's eye as everyone filed into the great hall, but there were too many students, and he was already heading towards a bench with James and the others.

“Sit with us, Dustin,” Felicia said quickly as Andrew darted towards some empty seats to claim them.

Dustin shot her a grateful look and sat down next to Andrew.

“Can you leave a space between us?” Al asked Felicia.

“For Lily? Sure. What about Hugo?”

Al hesitated as he slid onto the bench, settling Trinity in his lap. “I'm not sure what House he'll end up in, to be honest. He may just as easily end up in Ravenclaw with his sister. Siblings often end up in the same place.”

“Louis didn't,” Felicia pointed out, carefully keeping an empty space free between them as she sat down. “And both his sisters were in Gryffindor with us, right?”

“Yeah, but that came as a big surprise, and Mom said it's not that common.”

“I'm starving,” Dustin moaned, staring longingly at his empty gold plate. “I hope there aren't a ton of new first years. I could eat a whale.”

They didn't have too long to wait; ten minutes later the doors reopened and Hagrid led the first years down the center of the room.

“Looks like someone fell in,” Andrew chuckled, pointing out a furious-looking boy soaked through.

“Or was pushed in,” Dustin said unhappily. “Some boys nearly jostled me overboard my first year because they wanted to sit in the same boat together. And that kid looks hopping mad.”

He was also, Al noticed with a sinking feeling, glaring at the back of Lily's head as if he could bore holes into it. Hugo, trotting along beside his cousin, kept throwing nervous looks back at the boy.

Felicia had seen as well. “Oh, no,” she said weakly. “Perhaps I shouldn't have encouraged her to find other ways to stick up for herself.”

Al jumped to his sister's defense quickly. “He must have been really nasty to Lily to get pushed. Maybe he was picking on Hugo.”

“I guess. I just hope she doesn't get into trouble on her first day.”

An expectant hush fell over the hall as the first years clumped together up front and Professor Shacklebolt rose to his feet. Al tuned him out as he began droning on about forbidden areas and school rules, trying to get a better look at Lily through the crowd, but he perked up when the Marathon was mentioned.

“The Hogwarts Marathon, which was such a great success last year, will be held the weekend after the Quidditch final match. For any that are interested in potentially being chosen to participate, please speak with any Professor when you have the time. The deadline for submitting your name is November the first. And now, Professor, if you please?”

Professor Sinistra, the aging Head of Slytherin, rose from the head table and carried the Sorting Hat over to a stool set up before the nervous first years. She stepped back and unrolled a scroll, adjusting her tiny spectacles.

“Adams, Veronica.”

A tiny little first year, shaking visibly, approached the stool and sat down with the floppy hat nearly swallowing her entire head.

“Ravenclaw!”

“Awnings, Billy.”

“Gryffindor!”

On and on it went, with Al impatiently waiting for her to get to the P's.

“Franklin, Robert.”

Felicia nudged him as the boy with the soaked robes squelched his way to the stool.

“Gryffindor!” the Hat cried after a few seconds of silent debate.

Al winced. If Lily really had pushed him into the lake, she was going to have to apologize or face a very awkward year every time she saw him in the common room or classes.

And, then, finally, “Potter, Lily.”

Lily approached the stool warily and sat down, pulling on the hat.

Al glanced down the table and caught James's eye. Despite the tension that had existed between them all summer, they exchanged a quick grin. Al was already imagining Lily's excited face while he showed her the Gryffindor common room, when it occurred to him that the Hat had been silent for nearly thirty seconds.

He looked back up to the front, puzzled. Was the Hat having trouble Sorting her? Scorpius, he remembered, had sat with the hat on his head for a full minute.

Then the Hat's brim opened up and it shouted, “Slytherin!”

Al's stomach dropped, and he found himself clenching the table edge in a painful grip. All around the hall voices rose slightly in surprised murmurs. A Potter, in Slytherin? It had to be a mistake. Wrenching his eyes away from the front, Al looked back towards James, who looked equally shellshocked. He returned his gaze to Lily just in time to see her, white-faced and wide-eyed, stumbling over to the Slytherin table, where she sat beside a tall sixth-year and was lost from view. The reaction of the Slytherins was mixed. Some looked angry, and others cheered harshly as if they'd won some kind of victory.

“Oh my goodness,” Felicia said under her breath, her own brown eyes wide.

Al's heart was thundering in his ears. This couldn't be right. How could his baby sister get _Slytherin_? What would their parents say? What must the other Gryffindors think? How would James react once he got over his initial shock?

Al raked his eyes over the Slytherin table until he spotted a familiar shock of white-blond hair. He didn't know why he wasn't surprised to see that Scorpius was already looking at him, his pale eyebrows raised high in surprise.

Lily was in Slytherin. The House everyone in his family had sneered at for as long as Al could remember. In the same house as Evaine, a girl she had already been openly rude to. For a moment Al forgot all about his own betrayed feelings. He had to talk to Scorpius as soon as possible.

But how was he going to convince the boy to keep a watchful eye on the first Potter to land in Slytherin?

 

 


	3. Wicked

Hugo got sorted into Gryffindor, as it turned out, but Al was too distracted thinking about Lily to do much more than clap woodenly. He picked at his dinner, tasting nothing, twisting around every so often to try and get a glimpse of his sister.

Hugo had taken the empty seat previously set aside for Lily and was babbling excitedly to Roxanne, a few seats down. James hardly touched his food, and barely remembered to croak congratulations to his cousin. As soon as dinner was over, he jumped to his feet. But neither brother had a chance to find Lily and talk to her; the House Prefects were already gathering up their respective first-years and leading them out of the hall ahead of everyone else. Lily passed their table but would not even look their way. Her head was down and she was trembling slightly.

“Trinity,” Al said suddenly, struck by a wild idea, “go with Lily.”

The cat leapt down from his lap instantly and went padding after Lily. She scrambled up the girl's robes, startling her badly, but Lily scooped her up and hugged her tightly as she hurried after the rest of the first-years.

“Did you send her to watch after Lily, or comfort her?” Felicia asked quietly, her voice full of sympathy.

“Both, I guess,” Al said, feeling drained. “Wait til Mom and Dad hear. What are they going to think? Especially Dad...”

Everyone was getting up now, and as they headed for the doors, James hurried over to Al, their previous spat forgotten. “The Hat must've been jinxed,” he said quickly. “There's no way Lily belongs in Slytherin.”

Al's heart jumped at the idea, but Vincent came up a moment later, shaking his head. “No way. There's powerful magic protecting that Hat, and it's kept in the Headmaster's office all year round.”

“Well _something's_ gone wrong, because Potters don't belong in a messed-up House like Slytherin!” James said hotly.

“Slytherin doesn't automatically mean bad, James,” Al said, trying to convince himself as much as his brother. “Technically the House is for anyone cunning and resourceful, not... not...”

“Inherently wicked,” Dustin supplied, surprising Al a little. He hadn't even noticed the boy trailing behind him with Andrew and Felicia.

“Right,” he said quickly.

But James turned an angry glare on both of them. “Don't you go defending Slytherins,” he said from behind clenched teeth. “Just because you're all buddy-buddy with Malfoy--”

“Enough,” Roxanne said sharply, coming over and putting a restraining hand on James's shoulder. “Look, you guys can talk to Lily in the morning. But unless you want some of the Slytherins to overhear you and start a fight on the first night, just let it go for now, all right?”

James made a disgusted noise, turning away from Al, but said nothing else.

Al climbed through the portrait hole and stood in the middle of the Gryffindor common room, looking around with a sad feeling in his stomach. He had just assumed Lily would get sorted into Gryffindor with the rest of her family, had looked forward to showing off Hogwarts, helping her with her homework, maybe teaching her a few spells. But instead she was going down to the Slytherin's common room somewhere in the dungeons, quite possibly scared out of her wits. He felt even worse than he had his first year, when Rose had gone to Ravenclaw.

Guilt rose up, almost washing away his wistfulness. He should have told his sister on the train what Harry had told him before his first year. If he had told her that she could request a House, she could've surely overridden the Hat's initial decision, as Al and Harry had done. He wished he could write to his father, but James's and Vincent's owls had gone off to the owlery straightaway.

James started for the stairs, then changed his mind and turned back to Al, speaking stiffly. “We'll get up early and wait outside the hall,” he said. “We'll catch her before breakfast and sort this out.”

Al stared at him mutely, and James turned and headed upstairs to bed.

“How does he expect to 'sort this out'?” Al demanded weakly. “Getting placed in a House is permanent.”

“He'll be calmer in the morning, I expect,” Vincent said, though he didn't sound entirely convinced. “Regardless, I'm sure Lily will want to speak with both of you. 'Night, Al.” Nodding to the others, he followed James.

“I'm sorry, Al,” Felicia said in a small voice. “I know you were really hoping she'd get Gryffindor.”

“You were right earlier, though,” Dustin said, seeming hesitant to speak up. When Al looked at him, he stammered, “I mean... about Slytherin not being all evil. It's just another House. With a bad reputation, yeah, but...” He trailed off.

“Yeah. Thanks,” Al intoned. He reached up to his shoulder automatically for Trinity, then remembered he'd sent her with Lily. He hoped the cat could give her some comfort her first night. Unlike Al, she was now isolated in a House that had a history of having issues with the Potters, and with no other family members around.

Belatedly, guiltily, he remembered Hugo, and turned to find him in the crowded common room. Roxanne had already taken her little cousin under her wing, however, and was showing off the room to him and a handful of other gaping first-years. He thought he heard her mention the nonexistent rooftop pool.

“C'mon, Al,” Andrew said bracingly. “You can talk to your sister tomorrow. Let's get some sleep.”

 

~*~

 

James shook him awake early the next morning. “C'mon,” he murmured, careful not to awaken Andrew and the others. “Let's slip downstairs and wait for Lily.”

Yawning hugely, Al rolled out of bed and fumbled into his robes. He was pulling on his socks when the door squeaked open a few inches and an inky black shadow slipped into the room. Trinity.

She jumped up onto Al's bed and dropped something she'd been carrying in her mouth, then began butting at his elbow for pets.

He gave her a distracted scratch between the ears and picked up what she'd dropped-- a small scrap of parchment rolled up like a scroll. Opening it, he skimmed the words quickly. “Looks like Lily had the same idea.” He glanced over at the next bed as Andrew snorted in his sleep. “Let's go downstairs.”

He and James crept into the common room with Trinity riding serenely across Al's shoulders, and he read the note aloud to his brother. “It says, _Hopefully Trinity wakes you up by walking all over your face or something-- I told her to get you up early but I dunno how much she understands. Meet me by that tapestry on the first floor, the one of the unicorns in that purple meadow. I'll head down there before breakfast._ ”

“I know the one,” James said tensely. “Let's go.”

“Thanks, Trinity,” Al murmured, setting the cat on a comfortable chair in front of the fire. “I'll try to bring you back some bacon.”

He and James hurried down the stairs, treading as quietly as possible. “I have no idea if you can get in trouble for wandering about the school too _early_ ,” James admitted quietly as they tiptoed past a portrait of a snoring witch. “I've only ever tried to stay out late. But best not to risk getting caught, just in case.”

He led the way down the left corridor on the first floor, pointing at a long, narrow tapestry of a purple meadow under a light blue sky. A herd of unicorns was curled up in the grass, sleeping peacefully. Just below the tapestry, looking fidgety and nervous, was Lily.

She turned, startled, as she heard them jogging towards her. She was pale and looked like she hadn't slept much. Al slowed as he got a look at her robes. Seeing her with the silver and green tie and the snake emblem on the chest of her robes somehow made it all real.

On impulse, not blind to the way her lip quivered when both her brothers hesitated, he stepped forward and gave her a brief hug.

As if he'd flipped a switch, she began babbling in a high, distraught voice. “I'm sorry, I just thought I would let the Hat decide, I was so sure it'd stick me in Gryffindor, and when it started musing to itself about where to put me, I just let it get on with it, because I was so _sure_ , but--”

“We can talk to Shacklebolt,” James said stiffly. “Or maybe Sinistra. Just tell them it isn't the House you wanted, that you'd rather throw yourself off the Astronomy Tower than be part of Slytherin. That'll _have_ to make them relent.”

“James,” Al snapped reproachfully.

Lily stared up at James a little fearfully, her mouth opening and then closing again. “I... I was kind of... curious,” she finally squeaked. “About Slytherin, I mean. I dunno if the Hat picked up on it, but... I kept thinking about how Aunt Hermione would say the House gets a bad rap but it couldn't be _all_ bad... and then Al, you said you kind of get along with Malfoy--”

James threw Al an angry look. “This is your fault,” he hissed. Then, to Lily, “Look, you can't be a Potter and be in Slytherin, you just _can't_. We'll take you to the Headmaster's office--”

Lily's face reddened, and suddenly she looked angry, too. “What d'you mean I can't be a Potter?” she demanded a little shrilly. The unicorns in the tapestry jerked awake. “I _am_! And- and it's too late now, anyway. I asked another first-year, she said her brother got put in Hufflepuff a few years back and he was a wreck about it but the Professors refused to move him to another House.”

“You _want_ to be in Slytherin?” James demanded furiously.

“I want to be where I actually _belong_ ,” Lily snapped. “I just always thought that was going to be Gryffindor. But... but the Hat has to know what it's doing, right?” She looked to Al and her lip wobbled again. “Right?”

“I don't believe this.” James ran his hands through his hair roughly a few times, opened his mouth, shut it again, then made a curt gesture with his hands as if shoving the whole mess away from himself. “I'm sending an owl to Dad.” And he spun on his heel and stalked off.

The second he was gone, Lily burst into tears. “Al, am I wicked?” she wailed. The tapestry unicorns rose up and looked as if they'd moved closer, staring down at her.

Alarmed, Al fumbled for a handkerchief and tried to shove it into her hands. “What? Don't be ridiculous. Don't listen to James, you know how he is. He's just disappointed, is all.”

“He's _ashamed_ of me!” Lily hiccuped, burying her face in the handkerchief. “What if he's right? What if I'm awful deep down, and the Hat saw it, and that's why it stuck me in Slytherin?”

“Stop it,” Al said sharply. “You're not wicked or awful or anything like that. Just because there are some bad people in Slytherin doesn't mean the whole House is hopeless.” He struggled to think of a good example to back up his argument, but Scorpius was the only one that sprang to mind, and he wasn't sure he wanted to vouch for the boy a hundred percent just yet. “Look, Salazar Slytherin made the House for those he thought were clever and ambitious and... well, I don't know about ambitious, but you _are_ clever, okay? And you don't let people walk all over you. You asked me about jinxing bullies, you seem to have pushed some kid into the lake on your very first day--”

She only cried harder. “Because I'm _wicked!_ ”

“That's not what I meant,” Al said hastily, wishing now that he hadn't brought it up. “Mom jinxed plenty of people in her day when they got smart with her, is _she_ wicked?”

“N-no,” Lily said between her hiccups. “Al, I... I got the feeling I could have asked the Hat not to stick me in Slytherin, but... but it said I'd do well there. It sounded so _sure_. And it made me start thinking, just for a moment, what if I could prove they aren't all bad? And then before I knew it, the Hat had made its choice and...” She wiped furiously at her leaking eyes. “James _hates_ me. And what will Mom and Dad say?”

“James is a selfish git sometimes,” Al broke in. “That doesn't mean he _hates_ you. And Mom and Dad are not going to be disappointed in you. Surprised, yeah, but it doesn't matter. Dad told me so himself when I was worried _my_ first year about where I'd end up. Don't listen to James. He'll get over it. Just... look, just try to make the best of it, all right?” He gave her shoulder an awkward pat. “The Hat must've had its reasons for putting you there, like you said. Just try to make friends, if you can. You'll still see us around. Rose finds ways to hang with us loads of times in between classes and stuff.”

“You'd better break it up, the other students are coming down for breakfast already.”

Al nearly jumped out of his skin, whirling around.

Scorpius was hovering by a set of armor further down the hall, half hidden behind it. His face was expressionless.

“How long have you been there?” Al demanded angrily.

Scorpius shrugged. “I woke up early and saw her sneaking out.”

“So you followed her?”

Scorpius frowned at him as if he was already regretting his decision. “I figured you wanted me to,” he said coolly.

Al fell silent, surprised. He had, in fact, wanted to ask Scorpius to look after Lily if he could. He hadn't expected Scorpius to guess and take it upon himself to do so. Or had he interpreted Al's frantic look during dinner the previous night as an unspoken plea?

“Thanks,” he said finally. “I...” He glanced from Lily, who was still mopping at her face, back to Scorpius. His ears were hot. Just how much had Scorpius heard? If he'd been witness to Al sticking up for Slytherin, it certainly didn't show on his face. “It's Evaine, mostly,” he said lamely. “Lily mouthed off to her a week ago in Diagon Alley, and since she's already made it a hobby to pick on _me_...”

Voices were echoing in the stairwells. Lily stopped crying and wadded up the handkerchief, shoving it in Al's hand. “I don't want anyone to see me crying,” she sniffled. “I'm going to the bathroom to wash up.” She gave Al a pitiful look. “Will... will you wait for me after dinner?”

“Course I will. We can talk about your first day.”

Nodding, Lily threw Scorpius an uncertain look, then hurried off.

Al blew out a shaky sigh and rubbed at his face. “What a mess,” he croaked.

Scorpius slowly came closer, looking in the direction Lily had gone. Then he fixed Al with an unblinking stare, his mouth curved in a small frown. “D'you really believe all that stuff you said about Slytherin?” he demanded. “Or were you just trying to make her feel better?”

“I've met plenty of bullies from Slytherin,” Al said bluntly. “But I don't know everyone in your House. There were Slytherins in the Marathon last year, which means they had to have been at least somewhat decent to other Houses. And obviously you're not a butt-faced troll.” He paused deliberately before adding, “Usually.”

“Hah,” Scorpius huffed, looking away. “Look, I'm not going to babysit your sister for you--”

“But you'll keep Evaine and those like her off her back, right?” Al said quickly. “Please.”

Scorpius gave him a startled look.

Al swallowed, embarrassed at having to ask such a big favor. Scorpius owed him nothing, and they both knew it. “Please,” he said again firmly.

Now it was Scorpius who looked uncomfortable. “I'll make sure Engelton doesn't hex her ears off,” he muttered with bad grace. “But if the little twit starts a fight on her own, I'm not getting involved.” Students were flooding into the hallway, so he turned on his heel and hurried off before Al could respond.

Al stepped back to let a group of students pass him by and realized they were mostly Ravenclaws. He scanned the crowd and finally spotted Rose descending the stairs, laughing with a couple girls. He hurried over to her and touched her elbow to get her attention. She took one look at his face and bid her friends a hasty goodbye.

“Lily,” she guessed, ducking around a corner with him.

“She was crying something fierce a minute ago. James and I came to talk to her but...” Al's throat closed up. A sudden rush of fury had welled up inside of him at the mention of his brother.

Rose's eyes skipped over his face, reading what he wasn't saying out loud. “I take it James was not a mature older brother about it,” she said softly.

Al shook his head, still unable to speak.

“Poor Lily,” Rose murmured sympathetically. “Look, James will grow up eventually. You'll just have to be there to support her.” She paused, a look of apprehension dawning on her round face. “I'm kind of worried about her getting bullied, though. You'd think some Slytherins would jump at the chance.”

“Scorpius is going to keep an eye on her for me,” Al said dully. What was James writing in his letter to their father? Was he painting an awful picture? Demanding the great Harry Potter step in and order Shacklebolt to switch Lily to another House? Maybe he should write his own letter.

“What?”

He looked at Rose, stirred from his musings by her startled exclamation. “I asked Scorpius to make sure no one picks on her too much. He agreed, sort of. And you know Lily, she won't let people push her around.”

Rose stared at him blankly for a long moment. “Scorpius Malfoy?” she said as if she hadn't heard him correctly.

“Yes.” Maybe he should write to their mother instead. Let James complain to Harry all he liked; even if his letter got Harry riled up, Ginny was always able to be the voice of reason. Or his Aunt Hermione. Maybe that would be better. She was the one who had seemed to approve of Al's attempts to make peace with Scorpius. Then his mind looped back to the possibility of Lily getting bullied. What about Teresa Hernandez? He'd nearly forgotten about her. She didn't seem like a bully, but if her mother was who she was rumored to be, he didn't want someone like that around his sister. He realized Rose was still looking at him oddly. “ _What_?”

“Nothing,” she stammered. “I just...” She shrugged helplessly. “Never mind. Look, no matter what James says, there's nothing anyone can do about this now. Lily is just going to have to settle into Slytherin and make the best of it, I suppose.” She sighed. “Come on, we'd better get to breakfast.”

 

 


	4. An Owl for Lily

Al spent so much time worrying about Lily that morning that he barely touched his breakfast and walked to Potions without joining in on Andrew and Felicia's conversation. It wasn't until they entered the classroom and Felicia gave him a poke in the ribs that he stirred himself out of his funk. He realized he'd been moving on autopilot and was about to take a seat with her at a table.

“Scorpius is in the back,” she said, indicating a table near the door. “Are you feeling all right, Al?”

Zabini was coming their way to close the door, so Al just mumbled, “Yeah, fine,” and headed for the table Scorpius had already claimed. They had made it a habit last year to try and stay as far away from Zabini as possible, especially since neither of them had managed to get through a year without mouthing off about their impatient Professor, and Zabini's hearing was excellent. Dustin, he noticed, was at the table in front of his with his own sulky Slytherin partner, and gave him a hesitant wave that he returned automatically.

He sat down next to Scorpius, pulling out his textbook and dumping his bag on the ground. “How's Lily?” he murmured the second Zabini had returned to the front of the class.

Scorpius didn't even look at him, speaking quietly out of the side of his mouth in an impatient tone. “She managed to survive breakfast, Potter. It hasn't even been an hour since you saw her, she hasn't been poisoned or jinxed. Now focus, I am not going to fail my first Potions assignment of the year.”

Al sighed. “Is it going to just be a tradition that we start every year off in Potions with some silly argument?”

“Yes.”

Al rolled his eyes, but didn't have a chance to respond; Zabini was already speaking, directing them to open their textbooks and study chapter one. Al obediently flipped to the correct page and felt his brow furrow slightly. The chapter was dedicated to common antidotes. “Is this the year Zabini starts making us test our own potions?”

“Yes.”

Al shot him a look out of the corner of his eye. Scorpius seemed tense. He wanted to ask what was wrong, but Zabini was pacing up and down the aisle, looking around with his imperious, haughty stare. Al bent over his book and began to read. He had a sinking feeling he was going to need to know how to brew an antidote sooner or later, if Zabini really did make him test one of his potions. It was not exactly his best subject.

There was no actual potion-making that day, which seemed like an oddly relaxed class for Zabini, until he assigned them homework.

“A whole paper on antidotes and their uses, _and_ another chapter to read?” Andrew grumbled as they filed out of class an hour later. “Why does he always give us so much homework on day one?”

“We don't have Care of Magical Creatures until after lunch,” Felicia pouted, looking at her schedule. “And it's only once a week. But I have Ancient Runes every other day. That hardly seems fair.”

“I suspect most people don't need to know how to look after scary monsters out in the real world,” Andrew drawled, dodging a clump of excited first-years. “Hey, Al, isn't your cousin Fred a fifth-year now?”

Al blinked, thrown off by the abrupt change of topic. “What? Er, yeah. Why?”

“He'll be taking his O.W.L.s this year, won't he? I wonder if James and the others will help him study.”

Felicia and Al exchanged a look of confusion. “I s'pose. Roxanne probably will, at least? What are you getting at?”

“Vincent,” Andrew said in a tone of voice that said it should have been obvious. “He's mates with Fred. If he's too busy helping Fred study for his O.W.L.s, he might not be able to help _us_ study. Or hang out either.”

“Louis, too,” Felicia said with a frown. He'd been the main reason they'd all passed their Herbology finals the previous year.

Al didn't answer. That had not, in fact, occurred to him. O.W.L.s were rumored to be very stressful, and while Fred usually seemed be very blasé about schoolwork, Al had no doubt Aunt Angelina would not be happy if he didn't try his best on something as important as O.W.L.s. He might try to get as much help as he could, and even help from fourth-years was better than nothing. And if James really was distracted by a girl, it would fall to Roxie and Vincent to help, wouldn't it?

“It's okay, Al,” Felicia said quickly, seeing the glum look on his face. “I'm sure we'll still get to hang out with Vincent sometimes. He'll make the time, you'll see. It's next year that'll be the problem, when it's his turn for O.W.L.s.”

“Yeah, I know,” Al said with false indifference, leading the way into the Transfiguration classroom. Several students, mostly Gryffindors, shot Al sideways looks and leaned over to whisper to each other. He'd caught similar glances during breakfast. His sister's predicament was already a hot topic throughout the school, especially with the older students who had grown up hearing stories of Harry Potter. Trying to ignore the looks, Al looked around for Rose, and saw that she'd beat them there and was saving them seats near the front. She was practically wriggling with excitement in her chair.

“I think we're learning switching this year,” she said the second the others sat down, indicating the diagrams on the board. “You know, where you swap parts of one object with another.”

“Great,” Andrew said unenthusiastically. None of them were whizzes at Transfiguration, and Andrew seemed to have the most difficulty with it.

Professor Switch was not there yet, which was not uncommon for the drowsy old Transfiguration teacher, and the class was taking full advantage of her absence, gossiping away loudly. Al could not help but overhear the two girls behind him.

“Aurors showed up at his house and everything,” one of them was saying excitedly. “It was unreal. I mean, I've known him my whole life, he was living in the neighborhood before my folks even moved there. He was always a cranky old git, but never... y'know. Like _that_.”

“Aurors wouldn't just show up at someone's house unless they had a reason,” her friend said firmly. “You probably didn't know him as well as you thought.”

“His son was killed by Death Eaters,” the first girl flared up. “My older brother told me about it. He said it was a big deal at the time; everyone was talking about it and trying to comfort him. My own mum brought him casserole...”

“All right,” her friend said hastily to avoid an argument. “But even if he wasn't, _someone_ thought he had dark leanings, didn't they? To sic the Aurors on him...”

Al glanced sideways and saw that Rose was also listening intently, her eyes glued unseeing to the desk. She caught his eye and leaned over to murmur, “I wonder if they're talking about Frederick Coleman. I heard Mom mention him the other day. Something about 'the poor old man has been through enough' or something.”

“Why are people suddenly throwing these accusations about?” Al demanded, voice equally low. “Remember last year, when Vincent said he saw something similar in the Daily Prophet?”

Rose nodded, looking troubled. “And it ended up being hogwash. Or at least there was no evidence that the woman had anything to do with any Death Eaters.”

They were unable to discuss it any further, however, because just then Professor Switch shuffled into the classroom, yawning and clutching a huge mug of tea.

Switching turned out to be tricky. No one was able to do it correctly, but the Professor seemed unsurprised, and sent them genially on their way with instructions to study the chapter and practice switching the stems off of apples onto oranges.

History of Magic was as mind-numbing as ever, and Al spent most of his time spacing out and doodling on a scrap of parchment. It wasn't until class was dismissed for lunch that he pulled himself out of his stupor and actually looked at what he'd been mindlessly doodling. A few lazy spirals, a broom, an unkind caricature of Evaine, and...

He felt goosebumps spread up his arms. He'd drawn a rough copy of the strange mark Lily had pointed out to him in Diagon Alley. A snake wrapped around a broken wand. He started to crumple it up, then changed his mind. As they jostled their way through the crowded halls towards the lunchroom, Al slipped the paper to Andrew. “Ever seen anything like this?” he asked quietly.

Andrew snorted a laugh at the picture of Evaine, then stared in bemusement at the snake. “What is this, a caterpillar?”

“It's a snake,” Al snapped, stung. James had always had more of an artist's touch than Al had. “And a wand.”

“No, mate.” Andrew handed it back, giving him an odd look. “A snake? Sounds like some Slytherin thing. Did Lily show you something like this?”

“No. We saw it in Diagon Alley before the term started. It spooked her.”

But Andrew shrugged, unconcerned. “It's just some dumb drawing. Lots of students go through Diagon Alley, it was probably some snotty Slytherin trying to creep people out.”

“Yeah, probably.” Al wadded up the parchment and stuffed it into his bag.

 

~*~

 

After lunch, Felicia practically dragged Al from the table, so eager was she to attend their first class of Care of Magical Creatures. Dustin, who had also opted for the class, assuming it would be an easy one, tagged along.

“Look, I really should warn you,” Al cautioned as he led the way down the hill to Hagrid's hut. “Hagrid's idea of 'cute' and 'interesting' is usually... scary. I've heard all Dad's stories about his classes with Hagrid. People even got hurt a few times.”

“Al,” Felicia said a little impatiently, “in case you've forgotten, I've never seen any magical creatures. I mean, aside from the doxies and pixies and little stuff from Defense Against the Dark Arts. I don't care how ugly and weird it is, if it's some magical animal that no other Muggle has ever even heard of before, I want to see it!”

Al thought of his father's stories of the Blast-Ended Skrewts and winced, but let it lie. Hagrid _had_ said he'd only gotten the position again by promising to be more discerning with what animals he used. If they were lucky, he now had to get each monster approved by the Headmaster first.

At least Dustin seemed to be taking his words to heart. His expression was decidedly wary as they joined the dozen or so other students clumped together outside of Hagrid's hut. Al grimaced as he recognized a few unfriendly faces.

“Great, another class with Slytherin,” Felicia whispered, leading them over to a handful of Gryffindors. “At least Evaine isn't here, or Delilah.” She shuddered at the thought of her brutish Potions partner.

Scorpius wasn't there, either, Al noted, without much surprise. No doubt Draco had spoken disparagingly of the class. And Scorpius seemed more like the type to go after the more complicated classes, like Arithmancy.

Hagrid came around the side of his house just then, beaming at them all and tipping a friendly wink Al's way. “Right, then, follow me,” he called, beckoning as he led the way over towards the Forbidden Forest, swinging a pail in one hand.

The class followed, albeit reluctantly. Al jogged a little to catch up with Hagrid, trying to keep his tone light. “Hagrid, we're not, er... going _into_ the Forest, are we?”

“Course not,” Hagrid snorted. “Just here to the treeline, see?” He turned and motioned for them all to spread out only a few feet from the treeline. “Right. So I been leavin' food an' treats out most days to gain these little guys over. No sudden moves, now. Don't wanna scare 'em off.” He reached into the pail and pulled out a handful of diced uncooked meat. Scattering them onto the ground at the base of the trees, he retreated to stand with the class, watching the trees eagerly.

For several long minutes nothing happened. Some of the students were starting to relax when suddenly Felicia, who had been scanning the trees just as expectantly as Hagrid, jostled Al with her elbow. “Ooo, look!” she breathed.

Something was creeping down a nearby tree, slowly and cautiously, staring at the students with bulging yellow eyes. It looked like an odd cross between a green frog and a monkey, with long arms and legs and a curling tail. It had two small horns on its frog face, and a strange red lump between its eyes.

“Right,” Hagrid said cheerfully, his voice pitched low to keep from startling the odd creature as it began scooping up the meat and shoveling the bits into its wide mouth. “Anyone know what it is?”

There was a long silence, then Dustin raised his hand slowly. “Er, a Clanner? No, Clabbert.”

“A Clabbert, that's right.” Hagrid smiled encouragingly at him.

“Er.” Dustin glanced around self-consciously as most of the others turned inquisitive looks his way. “They're, um, I mean that red thing on its face... It flashes red when there's danger around. I remember my granddad mentioning them. Said some wizards kept them as pets or something. Like... to alert people if danger was nearby or something.” He trailed off, his face flushed. He quickly looked down at his feet, obviously wishing everyone would look somewhere else.

But Hagrid seemed pleased. “Ten points to Gryffindor. You're right, they can sense danger and alert their own kind of it with that there pustule. And some wizards did used to keep 'em, but that's not allowed no more. Too many Muggles were spottin' 'em, or at least the red glow, and were askin' questions.”

Al realized several students were making notes and hastily pulled his own notebook out of his bag. A few more of the Clabberts came slinking out of the trees to help themselves to the meat, keeping their bulging eyes always on the students, as Hagrid waxed on about the odd little things and the class took notes and made inquiries. It was, to Al's relief, an interesting and harmless first lesson.

After the Clabberts had scampered off into the trees, Hagrid bade them each try and sketch a Clabbert from memory, then sidled up to Al, looking a little anxious. “How'd I do?” he whispered.

Al grinned at him. “Brilliant.”

Looking both pleased and relieved, Hagrid began circulating amongst the students, who had settled into the grass to sketch.

“I think they're cute,” Felicia said, tongue sticking out from between her teeth in concentration as she made a clumsy sketch. “It's too bad that no one can have them as pets any longer. They sound useful.”

“ _I_ think they look kind of creepy,” said a nearby Gryffindor girl, grimacing at the wet spots in the grass where the meat had been. “All bug-eyed and slimy-looking. And Hagrid said they eat _birds_? Urrgh!” She shuddered and returned to her own drawing.

Felicia sniffed loudly, but Al privately agreed. The grasping fingers and protuberant eyes had been a little off-putting, and watching those tiny razor-sharp teeth mash up the meat had made him glad Hagrid hadn't encouraged them to try and pet the things.

 

Their next class was Charms, Al's best subject. Professor Flitwick, who had taught long enough not to expect his students to be a hundred percent attentive on the first day back, was teaching them a fairly simple charm to make objects waterproof. Each student was given a random small object to practice on.

“I love the useful everyday spells,” Felicia said defensively when Andrew laughed at her for giving an excited little bounce in her seat. “They'll be the spells we use the most outside of school, I think.” And she got a dreamy, faraway look in her eye as she imagined living as an adult witch, breezily using spells to do housework and other mundane things without lifting a finger.

Al, Rose, and Andrew, who had grown up around magic, were less impressed. It did, however, give them time to whisper amongst themselves about the Carnival.

“I think I did see a poster for it hanging inside Uncle George's shop,” Rose admitted. “But I barely looked at it, I was trying to keep Hugo from filching a handful of puking pastils. It does sound exciting, though.”

“Yeah. _Impervius_ ,” Al added, tapping the glove he was practicing on as Flitwick wandered past. He poured half a cup of water over the glove and was pleased when it simply slid off the cloth, leaving it dry. Unfortunately, the water slid right into his lap instead. “I'm going down to the owlery before dinner to write a letter to my folks about it.” He dabbed at his lap with Rose's handkerchief. “I wanted to bring up Lily, too, but I suppose she's already done so, and James, as well.”

 “I hope she's all right,” Felicia fretted. “I can't even imagine being stuck with people like Evaine all day and night. And she's so small. What's she going to do if everyone there turns on her?”

“Nah, they won't,” Andrew said dismissively, testing his practice sock and frowning when it squelched, full of water. “She's one of 'em now, I'm sure most of 'em will just treat her normal, right? It's just certain people like Evaine that she's got to steer clear of.”

“But she's a Potter,” Rose pointed out quietly. “From a long line of Gryffindors. Some of them, maybe the older students, are going to pick on her just for that.”

“She'll make friends,” Al said, trying to sound more confident than he felt. He did not like dwelling on his sister's situation. It stressed him out, being helpless to do anything. “They'll help her out. And she'll stand up for herself.”

“I hope so. _Impervius_.” Felicia dunked her quill feather in the glass of water and seemed surprised to see her spell had actually worked.

 

~*~

 

As soon as he finished Herbology, Al veered off from his friends and headed for the owlery. Dustin had warned him getting an owl on the first day of school could be a pain, as a lot of first years wanted to write home, and he wanted to make sure he got a written word in edgewise to whatever his brother was going to say in his own letter.

He climbed the spiraling stone steps and entered the dimly lit owlery, pausing in the doorway to let his eyes adjust as he glanced around. There were only half a dozen birds left; the others seemed to be out hunting or delivering mail. James's owl Rocco wasn't there, but he spotted a familiar reddish lump on a perch and stepped carefully around the bird droppings, pulling out the letter he'd hastily penned during Muggle Studies while the ancient Professor had wheezed on about dishwashers and washing machines.

“Brick,” he called. It was the name Vincent had jokingly given the hawk owl in the shop, and it had stuck; the bird did not seem to answer to anything else. Al had overheard Vincent telling the story at lunch to James and the others, who had roared with laughter. Ignoring the twinge he felt at having not been able to speak much with Vincent his first day, he held up his arm.

The reddish owl shook out its feathers, peering down at him sternly. Then it seemed to recognize him, for it fluttered down and landed heavily on his outstretched arm. “This is for Harry and Ginny Potter. My parents.” He let the bird take the scroll in its sharp beak, then carried it outside, wincing as the strong claws scraped briefly through the cloth as the owl took off into the sky. He watched the bird fly off into the sunset, then turned to go. Hearing voices, he stepped aside; the stairs were narrow and made it awkward for students to pass each other going opposite ways.

A trio of small first years appeared at the top of the stairs, chatting excitedly. Al recognized the silver and green emblems and ties, and in the next second realized who the girl on the end was.

“Lily?”

She looked around quickly, her face lighting up. “Al!” She hurried over as her two friends hung back, eyeing Al a little warily.

Lily hugged Al briefly but tightly. “Were you writing to Dad?” she whispered.

“Yeah. You?”

“I wrote home during lunch,” she admitted, stepping back. “But Hillary wanted to write home, and I thought maybe I should do an update because I was so upset in the first letter...” She turned, indicating the girls. “This is Hillary and Eun Ha. Um, this is my brother Albus.”

Al forced himself to smiled at them. They were only first years, after all, and if they were willing to befriend his sister, he was going to make nice.

Hillary had frizzy red hair and a pale face. She was staring at Al with a decidedly unfriendly expression. “The smarmy one Evaine mentioned?”

“That's the other brother,” said Eun Ha before Al could respond. She had a quiet voice and her black hair was pulled back in a thick braid. She was regarding Al with mild curiosity.

“Evaine has troll dung for brains,” Lily snapped, and both girls giggled almost despite themselves.

“Come on, there aren't many owls left,” Eun Ha said, peeking inside. She led Hillary into the owlery, both of them giving Al a wide berth.

“Eun Ha grew up in a Muggle foster home,” Lily explained in an undertone. “So she doesn't have anything at all against anyone named Potter.”

“She seems nice, I guess, for a Slytherin.”

Lily frowned a little. “They're not all bad,” she insisted. “I was kind of surprised. The first years, especially. I mean, they're all just as nervous as I am. Some of the older students are mean and nasty, but none of them has tried to jinx me or anything. One of the fifth-years, Toby, said Slytherins almost never jinx each other outside of duels. Says the rest of the school seems willing do to it enough, there's no point in turning on each other.”

Al thought of the fifth House and winced. The Slytherins had closed ranks then, too. The older students had been quick to teach the younger ones how to defend themselves. “So aside from jinxing, has anyone picked on you? Like Evaine?”

“Yeah.” Lily's face fell. “Evaine and her friends. Some of the older students. They've been teasing me, or talking real loud about you, James, and Dad, saying mean things where I can hear them. I've mostly been trying to ignore them. Eun Ha says they'll get bored of it sooner or later.” She looked down, ashamed.

“You don't need to stick up for us,” Al said quickly. “James and I don't care what toe rags like Evaine have to say about us.” They moved over to the low wall by the stairs, where they could lean and look out over the grounds. “So it's not as bad as you thought, then?”

She shrugged, chewing on a lock of red hair. “There were a couple times today when I thought I was gonna cry again,” she admitted, not looking at him. “But I met Hillary and Eun Ha in Charms class, and they've been nice to me so far. So that makes it easier. And this school is _amazing_.” Her eyes lit up, and some of her tension seemed to evaporate. “Everything here is so wild. And the classes... I mean, some are kind of hard already, but soon I'll be able to do real spells, just like you and James. Even the Slytherin common room is neat, once you get used to it. Okay, so I almost burst out crying when I saw it last night for the first time. Did you know it's in the _dungeon_? It's kind of dark down there, and some of the portraits are pretty snooty. And all the furniture's black. But you can see into the lake through the big windows-- that's how far down we are. It's actually kind of cool. I think I saw the giant squid go by this morning.”

Al looked away, pretending to study the Forbidden Forest so she wouldn't see his expression. He felt torn. He was relieved that she seemed to be finding her feet so quickly, and glad that she was as enchanted with the school as he'd known she would be. But he still felt a deep disappointment that she was not in her family's traditional House, that she would be spending so much of her time at school down in a dank dungeon. The study sessions in the Gryffindor common room that he'd envisioned over the summer, the celebrations his House liked to throw after Quidditch matches, the boisterous talk at the table during meals... sharing any of that with her was gone for good. He had always felt closer to Lily than to his brother, who always seemed to butt heads with him. He told himself firmly that he should be happy for her, and grateful that she was tough enough to even make it her first day despite people like Evaine.

He glanced back at her and made himself smile, and was relieved to find it felt mostly genuine. “Well, you'd better go ahead and send Mom and Dad an update. I'm sure they're worried sick, especially if your first letter was anywhere near as panicky as I'm guessing it was. I've got to head down to the hall, Felicia's saving me a seat.”

She gave him another hug and hurried into the owlery. His thoughts churning, Al made his way down the steps and back into the main building.

Felicia had indeed saved him a seat at the table, and he squeezed in between her and Dustin just as the first serving of dinner appeared on the plates. As he reached for a bowl of cranberries, he glanced down the table automatically. Vincent was still seated with James and the others. They were all poring over some parchments, arguing about something.

“I saw Lily,” Al said quietly.

Andrew and Felicia looked up quickly. “Is she okay?”

“Yeah, loads better.” He spooned the cranberries onto his plate and passed the bowl to Dustin. “She's already made a couple friends. Evaine and some others have been picking on her, but apparently Slytherins don't approve of jinxing each other, so she's all right.”

“That's good,” Felicia said with some relief.

Andrew's brows were raised high in surprise. “Wow, I figured if any House was gonna sink low enough to jinx each other, it'd be Slytherin. I mean, lucky for your sister they don't, but...”

Felicia sent him a quelling look and swiftly changed the subject. “So did you write home about the Carnival?”

“Yeah.” He glanced down the table again. “Remind me to talk to James about it when he stops being a git. He can help me talk my parents into it. They usually like making Christmas this big family get-together, so I dunno if they'd like to go or not.”

“Oh, I meant to ask, how was Muggle Studies?” A smile was teasing at the corners of Felicia's mouth. “I kind of wish I'd taken the class just to see what on earth they teach you in it. Is the Professor at least Muggle-born? I hope they know what they're talking about.”

“We learned about washdishers,” Andrew said around a mouthful of food. “It sounds awful, all the stuff they have to do without magic. Poor blokes. Pretty neat how they make all these machines to do stuff for 'em instead, though.”

As they spoke of their classes, Al noted Lily entering the hall with her two friends. She waved briefly as they passed, but seemed involved in her conversation. Ten minutes later, owls began swooping through the room bearing packages and letters from home. Al hastily cleared a spot just in case. His father, who had almost never gotten letters during his own time at school, and his mother, who had gotten them often, both liked to write to their children on the first day to wish them luck.

“Look, Lily got something,” Felicia said, nudging Al and pointing.

Al twisted in his seat in time to see his father's large owl, Godric, land at his sister's table carrying a package.

“They probably sent her a gift to cheer her up,” he guessed. “I'm sure her letter from this morning worried them.” He jumped as Rocco landed abruptly before him, thrusting out an impatient leg. He untied the scroll there, and the owl bounced down the table to give James the letter in its beak.

Al hastily unrolled the scroll, eyes skimming his mother's familiar handwriting.

_Al,_

_Don't worry about your sister, she's strong. She can look after herself. But it would make your father and I feel better if you kept an eye on her when you can. And please keep your brother from teasing her too much, I know how he is. He loves her, but I know how he'll feel about her being put in Slytherin. Your sister needs her big brothers to stand by her now. So be extra nice to her, all right?_

_I hope your classes go well and you make some new friends. Send our love to Neville, and keep on dazzling old Flitwick in Charms! (You get your brilliance from me, you know. Don't listen to your father.)_

_Love,_

_Mom_

 

Grinning, Al rolled the scroll up. As he tucked it into his robes, he snuck another look down the table. James was frowning at his own letter. No doubt it was similar to Al's, imploring James to support his sister. Would his father's words be enough to pull him out of his funk, or would they only irritate him further?

_Time will tell_ , Al thought grimly, and reached for his fork as dessert appeared.

Hugo had received a box of his favorite chocolates from his parents and was sharing them with a few other first-years. Watching him with benign fondness, Al couldn't help but notice Hugo was still clutching the letter he'd gotten with the chocolates, his eyes skimming the words over and over. He and his father were close; he must be feeling a little homesick already. Al made a mental note to spend some time with his cousin during the weekend.

“Wonder what she got?” Andrew said around a mouthful of cake.

Al glanced up just in time to see Lily go rushing by, clutching the package Godric had brought for her. She had an intense look on her face that Al could not place, but she didn't look his way or slow down.

“Did she look upset? I couldn't tell.” Felicia was also watching Lily as she darted down the hall and disappeared out of the door, clearly headed back for the Slytherin Dungeon. “I hope she didn't get something embarrassing that made the kids at her table tease her.”

Al thought briefly of the sweaters his grandmother liked to knit them and winced. The package had been lumpy, it could definitely have been covering up a traditional Weasley sweater.

Then Andrew began complaining about homework, and he forgot all about it.

 

 


	5. An Unhappy Picnic

Al didn't get to see his sister much that first week, and was soon so caught up in schoolwork and his own friends that he found himself worrying a lot less about her. The few times he caught a glimpse of her, she was usually walking with her new friends, and seemed all right. He found himself worrying more about his friendship with Vincent, for the older boy really did seem to be firmly back in James's close-knit circle of friends. The one time he had tried to talk to Al in the common room, James had come over to fetch him and given his brother an impatient look. To Al's consternation, Vincent had not argued, but simply gotten up and followed James.

“He's not interested in hanging out with us anymore,” Andrew said glumly after witnessing the interaction. “Oh well, I guess he's too much of a 'Cool Kid' now.”

“I don't care,” Al said stubbornly.

Felicia, who had always been able to read his moods with eerie accuracy, gave him a sympathetic look but said nothing.

It was odd to see and feel his relationships shift. Vincent seemed determined to hang out with students his own age, Lily was in another House altogether, and even Rose seemed to be spending a lot of time with her fellow Ravenclaws. And yet Dustin seemed to be slowly blending into Al's own circle of friends. He was unsure of himself, and made Felicia, previously the shyest of Al's friends, look positively outgoing, but he was nice and laughed at their jokes, and he was definitely a great help when it came time for Potions homework, as Andrew had predicted. Felicia had even made a couple of girl friends. Perhaps she was tired of being surrounded by boys all the time, Al reflected. Still, while she would chat with the girls-- two gossipy but cheery Gryffindors named Greta and Coleene –during meals and in the evenings sometimes, she still spent most of her time with Al and Andrew.

Meanwhile, Al's truce with Scorpius had taken an interesting turn. Whereas before they had only tolerated each other to keep from failing Potions, now Al had another reason to warm up to the other boy. He'd agreed, however reluctantly, to keep an eye on Lily, and Al knew he had kept his word because Lily had mentioned it during one of the rare moments Al ran into her between classes.

“Lily told me about Evaine,” Al murmured on Friday as he separated his ingredients for the Sleeping Draught they were supposed to be brewing.

Scorpius frowned slightly, busy crushing something in a mortar.

“She said Evaine was harassing her in the common room the other night bad enough to almost make her cry and you told her to lay off. Thanks.”

Scorpius shrugged, frown deepening. “Picking on first-years is pathetic.”

Al winced, not missing the barb in the pointed words. The fifth House had made a habit out of jinxing Slytherin first-years, who were easy targets. He reached for his own mortar and pestle and began crushing roots fiercely. He hadn't even been a Judge, but sometimes it seemed like he would always feel guilty for the mischief his brother and cousins had gotten into. He decided tactfully to change the subject.

“Did you hear about the Wizarding Carnival?”

Scorpius seemed to perk up ever so slightly. “My mother's taking me,” he boasted. “Over the winter holiday. She's old friends with one of the owners, so we'll get in free.”

“Nice,” Al said a little jealously. His own father's wealth had dwindled over the years, especially with a family to feed, and it had only recently occurred to him that it might make money a little tight if Harry agreed to take the whole family to the Carnival. And Uncle Ron's family had never had much money to begin with; would Rose even get to go? He pushed these worries quickly aside. “I wrote to my parents, I'm hoping we'll get to go, too.”

It was, perhaps, the most friendly conversation they'd ever had. They contemplated the possible rides and games the Carnival might have, and who would or wouldn't show up. They were so distracted by trying to split their attention between potion-making and conversation that they did not see Zabini approach until it was too late.

“Perhaps the two of you would like to continue this riveting discussion in detention,” he snapped, causing them both to jump. “One more word that has to do with anything other than potions, and you'll both be reporting to me this Saturday to scrape mold from every crevice of this dungeon by hand.”

They obediently bent over their cauldrons, making a big show of carefully measuring ingredients and studying their textbooks. Zabini eyeballed them both fiercely for a moment, then moved on. The instant he was out of hearing range, Al muttered, “Git.”

“Wart,” Scorpius breathed at the same time.

They exchanged a swift glance, and Al saw the faintest hint of a smile threaten at the edges of Scorpius's mouth. Then they returned their attention to their potions, trying to catch up to the rest of the class.

 

~*~

 

As soon as dinner was over that evening-- he scarffed his food quickly just to be safe –Al posted himself outside the great hall's doors, keeping an eye open for Lily. When she finally came out of the hall with her two friends, he flagged her down.

“Hey, Al!” she hurried over, and he was relieved to see she definitely looked more cheerful than she had at the beginning of the week. As she pulled away from a hug, however, he couldn't help but notice that her eyes were dark and puffy from lack of sleep.

“Miss your own bed?” he asked lightly, hoping it was homesickness and not the teasing of her fellow Slytherins disturbing her at night.

“What? Oh.” She touched her face self-consciously, avoiding eye contact. “No, just... lots of homework.” She smiled. “Eun Ha said it'd be smart to get it all done after classes every day so that we could just relax all weekend.”

“Good idea,” Al said wryly. He himself knew he had at least four assignments waiting for him back in the common room.

“I got a letter from Mom and Dad the first night.” Lily took a deep breath. “They said it doesn't matter what House I'm in, that any House would be lucky to have me. They said the Hat always has its own weird reasons for doin' stuff, and I shouldn't let what other people think change who I am.”

Al smiled. “Good. See, I told you.”

“But James is still mad.”

Al's smile slipped away. He had not spoken to James since he'd yelled at Lily about her decision to let the Hat place her in Slytherin. He had to remind himself firmly that it was James who had felt remorseful enough to turn in the rest of his fellow Judges during Al's first year. “Look, he's been mad at me plenty of times since I started going here. He'll come around, he always does.” Lily didn't look convinced, so he quickly changed the subject. “Hey, a bunch of us like to hang out and eat lunch outside on Saturdays, if you wanna come with. We can go and see Hagrid, too, if you want.”

She nodded eagerly. “Sure! I hope Hugo will be there, I've barely seen him at all since the train.” She hesitated, glancing around as more students began to leave the hall. “Al,” she said very quietly, “d'you remember that weird snake we saw in Diagon Alley?”

Al frowned uneasily, remembering his doodle of the odd mark. “The snake breaking the wand? Yeah, why?”

“I saw it again. Someone etched it into the wall by the fireplace in the Slytherin common room.”

Al felt a chill creep up his spine. Perhaps Andrew had been right and it had something to do with Slytherin after all. “Did anyone say what it was?”

“A lot of people didn't even notice it. It's pretty small. I only saw it because I was helping Debra Truman look for her rat.” She glanced over her shoulder again furtively. “I asked a couple people, but they mostly just assumed it was nothing. Just someone getting bored and scratching something into the stone. But Evaine overheard me asking about it and she just _laughed_.” She frowned. “I think she knows what it is, but she wouldn't say. I just thought... well, if someone like Evaine recognizes it, it can't be good, right?”

“Don't give Evaine any reason to harass you,” Al said hastily. “I know you said Slytherins don't usually jinx each other, but I wouldn't put it past her to do it when there aren't any witnesses around. Just... leave it alone, or just ask your friends about it. It's probably nothing.”

Lily frowned, but just then Eun Ha poked her head around the bannister from where she and Hillary had apparently been waiting at the top of the stairs. “Lily, let's _go_ ,” she shouted impatiently. “Hillary says she's gonna teach me how to play gobstones!”

“Coming!” Lily gave Al a wave, already hurrying away. “Okay, I'll see you tomorrow for lunch, Al. Tell Hugo he better be there!”

Al turned to watch her go, and noticed Felicia lingering in the hall's doorway. “Sorry,” she said as soon as his eyes landed on her. “I wasn't trying to eavesdrop, but I didn't want to interrupt.” She came to join him, glancing towards the stairs. “I'm glad she's made friends already.”

“Yeah.” Al hesitated, wondering if he should show her the doodle of the snake as well, then decided against it. She would probably agree with Andrew that it was just a dumb Slytherin graffiti. “I suppose we'd better do some homework so we won't have so much to do this weekend.”

She grimaced, but agreed. They waited another couple of minutes until Andrew and Dustin finished dinner and joined them, then headed up to the Gryffindor tower, debating which assignments they should do immediately and which they should put off until later.

“Devil's Snare,” Dustin told the portrait of the Fat Lady. As she swung open, however, he stumbled back. Someone was climbing out of the portrait hole.

“Cheers, good timing. Move aside there, kiddies.” It was Fred, followed by his sister and James. James, scrutinizing a piece of parchment, glanced up briefly and spotted Al. He frowned slightly, but said nothing, stuffing the parchment into his pocket and turning to take the bag being handed to him by the boy coming out behind him.

“Hi, Vincent,” Al said, a little too quickly.

Vincent spotted him and grinned. “Hey, Al.” He nodded to the others. “Have a good first week?”

“Yeah, all right.” Al's eyes lingered on the bag James was hitching over his shoulder. It was lumpy and looked heavy. “Where are you off to?”

“Mind your business, shortstuff,” Roxie said breezily, tweaking his nose as she strode by. She had a couple of books tucked under her other arm. Al blinked. It almost looked like they were off to a study session, which was unusual for them. Could Fred be stressing about his upcoming O.W.L.s already?

“What's in the bag?”

“Just snacks,” Vincent assured him.

“She said mind your own business,” James snapped at the same time. He jerked his head at Vincent impatiently. “C'mon, let's go.”

Vincent gave Al a helpless shrug and followed the other three downstairs.

Al's face felt hot. He couldn't tell if it was from the odd convoluted feelings from his brief conversation with Vincent or anger at his brother's attitude. _Both_ , he decided, resisting the urge to fire a hex at the back of James's head. And why did Vincent seem so stuck on hanging out with James and the others this year? Usually he brushed off James's snarkiness and made time to speak with Al.

There was a long moment of unhappy silence. Felicia was watching Al anxiously, and Andrew was scowling in the direction the others had gone. Dustin dithered off to the side, unsure where the tension had come from.

“Are you coming in or aren't you?” the Fat Lady demanded, and they hurried into the common room without discussing it.

 

~*~

 

Hugo eagerly agreed to meet his cousins for lunch on the grounds on Saturday, but insisted on bringing some first-years he was on friendly terms with.

“Maybe he wants to show off that he knows some older kids,” Felicia guessed with a smile as they collected food from the hall and made their way to the grounds.

“Why? It's not like we're the cool kids,” Andrew snorted. “Because cool kids wouldn't hang around a bunch of smidgy little first-years.”

There was a bit of a nip to the air, but the sun was still bright in the sky, so they found a spot near the lake and spread out the blanket Felicia had brought along.

“At least now he's suddenly okay with being seen with his big sister,” Rose grumbled when she joined them a minute later and heard Hugo would be coming. She looked around, taking a seat beside Felicia. “I can't stay too long, I promised to meet up with Helen and Molly later. Where's Vincent?”

“Haven't you heard?” Andrew asked with a faintly bitter tone, handing out the food. “Unlike your brother, he's too cool to be seen with us now. He's connected to James at the hip nowadays.”

“Well... it's only the first week,” Rose placated, shooting an uncertain look at Al, who took a big bite of his sandwich to avoid joining the conversation.

Hugo arrived a few minutes later, with a pair of boys trailing after him. They seemed impressed that Hugo knew so many older students, and eagerly squeezed themselves between him and Dustin, presenting the various snacks and sweets they'd pilfered for the picnic.

“This is Billy and Robert,” Hugo said. Al glanced towards the second boy, then exchanged a quick look with Felicia as Hugo rattled off introductions around the circle. It was the boy Lily had supposedly pushed into the lake.

Billy, who was Muggle-born, seemed thrilled about everything to do with Hogwarts and magic and fired off a million and one questions as they ate, reminding Al with some amusement of Felicia during her first year. Andrew, who was in the middle of explaining Portkeys, trailed off suddenly as Lily came running over with Eun Ha beside her. Robert saw her as well and jumped to his feet.

“You!” he shouted as soon as she was close enough.

Lily, who had been flushed from her run and laughter, stopped smiling instantly.

“You pushed me in the lake!” Robert shouted, his skinny face blotchy with anger.

“I only pushed you because _you_ nearly elbowed Hillary into the lake trying to push her out of the way,” Lily retorted, her own face going red.

“It was an accident!”

“You said _move, dummy_!” Lily's voice was getting louder now, and her fists were clenched. “Doesn't sound like an 'accident' to me!” Eun Ha hung back, eyeing them all warily. Most of the others had climbed to their feet as well, alarmed.

“But I wasn't trying to dump her in the bloody lake! You pushed me on _purpose_!”

“Hey!” Al stepped forward so he was in between them. “Quit yelling at my sister. Whatever happened, you two need to get over it.”

“No wonder she's in Slytherin,” Robert spat, pushing Al out of the way and storming off. “C'mon, Billy, let's go before she calls you a mudblood or something.”

Rose gave a strangled gasp. Billy, who looked confused at the term, got up but hesitated, looking from Hugo to Robert.

Lily, however, plunged her hand in her pocket and came out with her wand.

Al grabbed her wrist and forced her hand down so her wand was pointing harmlessly at the ground. “Don't you dare,” he hissed through his teeth.

Hugo jumped up, looking angry and humiliated. “Thanks a lot, Lily,” he snapped. Jerking his head for Billy to follow, he hurried after Robert.

“Hugo!” Rose called, but he ignored her.

There was a tense silence once the three boys had left. Al finally released Lily. She was bright red and looked on the verge of angry tears. Eun Ha was still hanging back, her eyes wide.

Al struggled to think of what to say and failed. He didn't want to scold Lily and make her cry in front of everyone, but he was appalled that she had gone for her wand. Had she really intended to jinx Robert in the back, or had it just been a reflex? He looked from Rose to Felicia helplessly.

“Hello,” Felicia said quickly, stepping forward and offering her hand to Eun Ha. “Um, are you Lily's friend? I'm Felicia. I hear you grew up with Muggles, like me.”

Eun Ha looked at her with an indecipherable expression. Al wondered suddenly if her Muggle background had given Evaine and some of the other Slytherins an excuse to pick on her. Perhaps that was why Lily had latched onto her so fast.

Still, the distraction was a tactful one. It drew attention away from Lily and gave her a moment to pull herself together. Eun Ha glanced at Lily, then shook Felicia's hand briefly, not quite looking at her. She seemed supremely uncomfortable to be surrounded by so many Gryffindors.

“Is this a joke?”

Al groaned at the familiar voice, pitched just loudly enough to draw the attention at the dozen or so other students who were taking lunch on the grounds. Those that had been sending nervous looks their way during the outburst between Lily and Robert were now openly staring.

Al turned, clenching his teeth. Evaine and a handful of her friends were marching their way, and her expression made it clear she was looking to pick a fight.

“Hey! First-years!” Evaine snapped, making Lily and Eun Ha jump guiltily. “What'd I tell you about staying away from other Houses? _Especially_ Gryffindors, and _especially_ Potters.”

“I'm a Potter,” Lily reminded her, though she sounded a little subdued.

Evaine turned a scornful look her way. “Trust me, I hadn't forgotten.” She returned her glare to Al, barely acknowledging his friends as they moved to stand beside him. “You think I didn't see just now? Your stupid cousin and his friends picking on one of us? You teaching them your brother's underhanded ways, Potter?”

Al knew perfectly well that she cared nothing for Lily personally. She was either defending Lily out of principal, being from the same House, or more likely just hoping to humiliate them all in front of the onlookers.

“Get lost, Evaine,” Al snapped. He didn't want to point out that it was Lily's actions that had caused the argument in the first place. “This party is for non-losers only.”

“Ohhh, so witty,” Evaine mocked, and her friends laughed loudly. Al let his eyes skip over them one at a time. Four of them. He recognized the two girls as the friends she'd had with her in Diagon Alley. The boys he didn't recognize, but they were much bigger than he was. Probably fifth- or sixth-years. Not counting Lily and Eun Ha, he had four in his group, but none of them stood a chance against the two boys, both of whom were scowling at Al and already holding their wands loose at their sides. Dustin wasn't too much smaller than them, but he looked petrified.

“Come on, Al,” Felicia said, her voice trembling a bit. “Let's just eat inside.”

“Running away, Potter?” Evaine jeered. “Are you as gutless as your little girlfriend?” Her friends laughed again.

Al could feel his blood starting to boil. “Just what are you trying to prove, Evaine? That you're as dumb as you are nasty? Do you really want to land in detention for a week just to look big in front of your friends?”

Evaine flushed with anger and reached in her pocket. Instantly Andrew and Rose had their wands out and pointed at her face.

“Take your little posse here and move on,” Andrew suggested.

“Just leave us be and we'll forget this ever happened,” Rose said, her normally gentle brown eyes flinty.

Evaine froze.

Al itched to reach for his own wand, but the boys with Evaine had raised their wands already. For several moments nobody moved. Then Lily pushed her way through them, pulling Eun Ha along by the hand. She stopped when she was between the two groups, shaking slightly but obviously hoping the Slytherins wouldn't jinx two of their own.

“We're going, all right?” she said, her voice higher than normal. “Just stop it.”

Evaine glared at them, then glanced around suddenly. Al turned his head slightly. Several of the students who had been watching before had risen to their feet; some of them were holding wands. Most of them were Gryffindors.

“Later, Potter,” Evaine promised quietly, throwing Al one last warning glare before spinning on her heel. “C'mon,” she said loudly. “These pathetic losers aren't worth our time. And _you_ ,” she jabbed a finger in Lily's direction, “better remember where your loyalties lie.”

Al let out a silent sigh of relief. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Rose and Andrew slowly lower their wands.

It was beginning to look like the whole thing might blow over, but just then James came striding up, his wand already out in his hand.

 

 


	6. Duelists in Detention

Al took one look at his brother and knew in an instant that he was bringing trouble with him. By the expression on his face, he'd seen at least some of the tense argument as he made his way across the grounds. Luckily Fred and Roxanne weren't with him, though Vincent was jogging behind him, and as they got closer Al could hear him quietly but urgently trying to convince James to come back inside.

James ignored him. “ENGELTON!” he barked, causing Evaine to whip around.

“James--” Al moved forward quickly, trying to get to his brother before he could make the situation worse. “Don't, stop, it's over--”

James pushed him aside. He only had eyes for Evaine. “Think you're so tough, picking on my kid brother, my little sister? Huh? You got a problem with anyone named Potter, you come to _me._ I'll jinx you into next week!”

“James,” Vincent murmured, grabbing his elbow. “Enough. Al can handle--”

But Evaine had already yanked her wand free. “You better back off if you know what's good for you,” she warned, glaring at James with pure loathing. The rest of the onlookers had fallen back some, looking with uncertainty between James and Evaine.

Rose seized Lily and Eun Ha and beat a hasty retreat towards the castle, ignoring Lily's strident protests. Al didn't have time to wonder why; he was practically wrestling James, trying to hold him back and push his wand hand down. “JAMES!” he shouted right in his face. “STOP!”

“ _DEPULSO!_ ” Evaine shrieked.

The spell hit Al in the back. He cannoned into James, knocked off his feet, and they both tumbled into the grass.

Vincent's wand was out and slashing out in retaliation in a heartbeat. “ _Tarantallegra!_ ”

Al rolled off of his brother in time to see the spell hit one of the boys with Evaine. Whether it was on purpose or Evaine had dodged, Al didn't know. The boy's legs began thrashing wildly, causing him to lose his balance and fall over, legs still kicking comically in the air.

Al gave a startled  _oof_ as James accidentally elbowed him in the stomach in his haste to scramble to his feet.

“ _Ventus_!” Evaine yelled, and James barely dodged in time, the blast of wind whipping his robes in a frenzy.

From the ground, Al pointed his wand at her face and croaked, “ _Langlock_ !”

Her head gave an odd jerk, and she began clawing at her throat desperately with her free hand, unable to utter a word to attack.

The other boy with her dodged around her, jabbing his wand in Vincent's direction. “ _Incarcerous_ !” 

Ropes shot from his wand and wrapped around Vincent, snaring him from head to foot. He tottered, then fell heavily.

James turned on the Slytherin boy furiously. “ _Densau_ \--”

“ENOUGH!” Students scattered as Zabini came striding up, little Professor Flitwick puffing as he tried to keep up at a jog.

“ _Expelliarmus,_ ” Zabini snapped, waving his wand and sending James's spinning.

“ _Diffindo_ ,” Flitwick squeaked, touching his wand to the ropes around Vincent so that they snapped and unraveled. 

“What is the meaning of this?” Zabini demanded, glaring around at each of them, his face like a thundercloud. Al hastily stowed his wand away, and accepted Vincent's help as they both got to their feet.

Evaine was still pawing at her throat and mouth. Zabini pointed his wand at her and she finally managed to prise open her jaw, coughing.

James quickly pointed at Evaine. “She was harassing--”

“He drew his wand on me!” Evaine shrieked, pointing accusingly at him.

“You threw the first spell!” Andrew bellowed.

“Silence!” Zabini spat, throwing him such a menacing look that Andrew shut his mouth as if he, too, had been Langlocked. “Dueling between students outside of a supervised class is prohibited!”

“Well, speak up,” Flitwick tutted, looking around at some of the onlookers. “Who started this?”

Several Gryffindors pointed quickly to Evaine. “She jinxed them first!”

A couple Slytherins protested, indicating James. “That one came up and started threatening her.”

“Yeah, he had his wand out first, he was looking for a fight!”

“I don't care who started it,” Zabini snarled, pointing his wand at each of the culprits. “You're all guilty of hurling spells at each other like a pack of idiots. Engelton, Richmond, Dumford, my office. NOW.” He turned on his heel and marched off. Throwing resentful looks back towards Al and the others, Evaine and the two boys went trudging after him.

“And you three,” Flitwick added sternly, indicating James, Vincent, and Al, “come with me. We are going to tell your Head of House about your disregard for rules and safety.”

Belatedly Al realized why Rose had dragged Lily off, and was relieved. She may have gotten hit by a stray spell or been tempted to join in the jinxing, but now there were plenty of witnesses that had seen her leave before the fight had actually started.

James retrieved his wand, and the three of them glumly followed Flitwick back towards the castle, though James still had the ghost of a rebellious scowl.

They found Neville, unsurprisingly, in the greenhouse, tending to an odd looking black plant that seemed to be oozing tar from its slender branches and making little wet smacking sounds. He blinked at them in surprise as they trooped in, their shoulders hunched guiltily, then hastily put aside his flask and gloves as Flitwick took him aside and gave him a brief rundown.

“Good one back there,” James muttered out of the side of his mouth. “Shutting up Evaine with that spell, I mean, so she couldn't retaliate.”

Al didn't answer. He was warring with conflicting emotions. On the one hand, he was relieved to know that no matter how irate he had seemed about Lily's Sorting, James was still quick as ever to jump to his siblings' defense. On the other hand, he'd only made things worse with his hot-headed meddling. But James obviously approved of Al joining in the fight-- no matter how reluctantly –and Al was hesitant to start another argument when it looked like his brother might finally be willing to be friendly again.

He glanced sideways and shared a resigned look with Vincent.

“Right.” Neville came over to them, his mouth drawn down in a deep frown. “What's all this about you picking a fight with Miss Engelton? You know you aren't allowed to cast spells on fellow students.”

“She and her bullyboys were picking on my sister,” James said hotly. “What was I supposed to do, let her get away with it?”

“Did it ever occur to you-- as it obviously did to your cousin –to simply remove Lily from the area?” Neville gestured from himself to Flitwick. “Or get a Professor? Thirty points from Gryffindor.”

James gave an offended gasp, but Al winced, staring down at his feet. Only a week in, and they'd already lost so many points in one afternoon.

Neville shook his head at them. “I'm very disappointed in all of you. I know the Potters have always had a thing against rules in general,” and here his mouth twitched almost despite himself, if only for a heartbeat, “but the both of you know better. And you, Vincent. As their friend you should have stopped this before it got out of hand.”

Vincent nodded mutely, not even bothering to defend himself.

“Detention,” Neville decided. “I want the three of you in here promptly at eight in the evening on Monday.” He gestured to the oozing black plant. “You can help me milk the Swampbranch. I suggest you wear your oldest robes. Now go back to the common room and attempt to behave yourselves. And if I hear any other stories about any of you picking fights with Slytherins, I'll be writing to your families and it'll be a week's worth of detention--” he bulled on when James opened his mouth in protest, “and no, I don't care if it interferes with Quidditch tryouts. You should have thought of that before you went looking for trouble.”

 

~*~

 

It took almost no time at all for news of the showdown on the grounds to circulate throughout the school. To Al's dismay, the Slytherins, who had seemed for the most part content to ignore him rather than harass him after the events of the previous year's Hogwarts Marathon, were now as openly hostile to him as they'd been to James.

Al had to watch his back wherever he went all weekend. It seemed that every time he passed a Slytherin he had to dodge a sharp elbow, avoid a foot thrust out trying to trip him, or duck a whispered hex. But worst of all was Potions.

On Monday, it became quickly obvious that Scorpius had turned against him as well. He wasn't interested in hearing Al's side of the story, and with Zabini-- equally irate –constantly on the prowl, Al didn't get a chance to explain that he'd been trying to stop the fight all along. Al was so frustrated that he paid little attention to his work, and made a noxious glob of tar instead of the bright pink potion that was their assignment. He had to suffer in silent humiliation as Zabini reprimanded him before the whole class, with all the Slytherins looking on in vicious glee.

“Maybe Lily can set the story straight,” Felicia tried to encourage him as they left Charms later that day. Al was trying without much success to remove the wad of gum from his hair that a Slytherin had managed to flick at him in the hallway.

“No one's going to listen to her,” Al grumbled. His temper was feeling dangerously short. Scorpius had been the one Slytherin he'd thought might be understanding (or, at the very least, apathetic) about the whole mess. “They'll just assume she'll say anything to stick up for family. And besides, she wasn't actually there when the fight started.” He gave up the gum as a lost cause. “It doesn't matter. I sided with James in the end and jinxed Evaine, and that's all anyone wants to talk about.”

Andrew reached out and roughly shoved back a second-year Slytherin who had been making a beeline for Al with a glint in his eye. “This better blow over quick,” he said grimly as the Slytherin lost his nerve and scuttled off into the crowd. “Otherwise you'll have to hire a couple of Aurors to watch your back all day. And Al, I think you're going to have to chop off a chunk of your hair. That gum looks like it's paid a down payment on a lease and is there to stay.”

“There's a simple potion that'll melt that away and make it easy to brush out,” Dustin spoke up, seeming eager to help in his own way. “I can whip it up for you before dinner if you still haven't gotten it out by then.”

“Thanks,” Al said with relief. He had not been looking forward to letting Andrew carve him a little bald patch.

“Well, at least you and James seem to be on speaking terms again,” Felicia said, trying to put a positive spin on the whole thing.

Al sighed. “Yeah, I suppose. I still kind of want to take him by the collar and shake him, but I don't think I'd get through to him.”

“Next time a Slytherin tries to jinx you and he's nearby,” Andrew suggested cheerfully, “dodge and let him take the hit for you. He can't start any fights if he's laid up in the infirmary with a face covered in boils or something.”

 

~*~

 

Directly after dinner, Al got up from the table and followed Vincent and James outside to the greenhouse. He kept running his hand nervously through his hair. Dustin's potion had worked wonderfully, but it left his hair feeling unpleasantly damp and greasy. He longed to take a shower. He caught Vincent eyeing his hair curiously and wished he had a hat.

Neville was already waiting for them, and directed them to a row of five or six of the nasty-looking black plants set up on the table. “I've provided you each with gloves and flasks. You'll be milking these Swampbranches until they have no more pus left.”

“Pus?” James repeated, looking at the plants with revulsion.

“It's really more of a sap,” Neville explained, unmoved. “But due to its stink and consistency, most herbologists tend to refer to it as pus.” He reached over with a gloved hand and squeezed a slender branch near the base, pulling it towards him. As he did so, a thick gooey brown substance seemed to leak slowly from the branch through tiny pores. “Squeeze and pull like this, and collect it all in your flasks. Mind you don't get any near your eyes.”

“What possible use is this stuff?” Vincent asked with horrified fascination.

“It's a key ingredient in certain potions and salves, most notably one used for burns. The Swampbranch is a very hardy little plant. Completely fireproof, and can flourish even without sunlight. Now, no more stalling; get to work.” Neville smiled at them, seeming amused at their discomfort, and returned to re-potting a group of small pink ferns.

Grimacing, the three boys pulled on their gloves and began the disgusting work. Neville didn't seem to mind them speaking so long as they were quiet, so they muttered complaints and conversation as they squeezed the rubbery branches, catching the sap in their flasks.

“This is vile,” James hissed, his face scrunched up in disgust. “Zabini better have given Evaine and those other oafs something equally horrid to do for _their_ detention.”

“Did he actually give them detention?” Al wondered. “I figured he'd take their side in this and let them off with a warning. It sure didn't look like he took House points away when I passed the hourglasses earlier.”

“Too many witnesses saw Evaine throw the first spell,” Vincent explained in an undertone. “But the Slytherins had Quidditch tryouts this afternoon, so I heard Zabini postponed it 'til tomorrow.”

Al glanced at his brother quickly. It had just now occurred to him that Lily, if she was still determined to play Quidditch, might very well be trying out for the Slytherin team next year. The same thought seemed to have occurred to James; he was scowling darkly at his plant and squeezing one of the branches harder than strictly necessary. James would have to play against her in a match one day. That would be all sorts of awkward.

Perhaps guessing where their thoughts lay, Vincent hastily changed the subject. “So did either of you hear back from your folks about the Carnival?”

Al shook his head, reaching for a fresh flask. “Not yet. Can't be long before we do, though. The Carnivals during winter break, isn't it?”

“Emma said she's going,” James said suddenly, looking a lot less annoyed. “I heard her in the hall telling that oaf Greene about it.”

“Gerald Greene,” Vincent said in an aside for Al's benefit. “The Prefect Emma fancies.”

“She doesn't fancy him,” James snapped. “They're just friends.”

Vincent rolled his eyes.

“Who's Emma?” Al demanded, feigning ignorance.

James refused to look up from his plant, his ears going pink. “A girl. A fifth-year, actually. You wouldn't know her.”

“Wasn't she on the Ravenclaw Quidditch team?” Al asked innocently. “Kind of cross-eyed?”

“She's not cross-eyed!” James said hotly.

Al and Vincent erupted into muffled laughter. For the first time since Saturday morning, Al felt his mouth pulling into an honest smile. It was nice to have James talking to him again, and even better having Vincent sharing a knowing grin with him. Maybe after today Vincent would actually remember to spend time with Al and the others more often.

It took them two hours to milk the Swampbranches to Neville's satisfaction, but because he had let them talk during it, the time seemed to fly and they left stinky and with cramped hands, but in better moods. Al couldn't help but wonder if Neville, knowing the brothers well enough to know when there was tension between them, had decided to let them speak to clear the air.

As they made their way back to the school, Al decided to do something he felt he hadn't done in far too long, and confide in his brother. “Have either of you seen anything like this?” He pulled the doodle he'd done the previous week from his pocket and showed it to both boys.

Vincent, waving his hands as if he could air out the stink of the pus that had penetrated even through the gloves, barely gave the drawing more than a brief glance. “Two worms in a wrestling match?”

Al elbowed him. “No, smarty. A snake breaking a wand.”

James frowned at the picture for a long moment. “Yeah. I saw something like this on the platform at Hogsmeade when we got off the train last week. I'd almost forgotten about it. I just figured some Slytherin carved it there while waiting for the train at the end of last year or something.”

“Lily and I saw it outside a shop in Diagon Alley right before school.”

“Which shop?” James asked quickly.

“I don't remember. It was near Ollivander's. And Lily said she saw it again in the Slytherin common room.”

James seemed to lose interest. “Just Slytherins messing about, then. It's nothing, Al. Say, are you trying out for Quidditch this year? Olivia's Captain now that Lucas is gone. She's holding tryouts on Friday.”

“Absolutely not.”

James shrugged. “Didn't think so. I'll probably be trying out for Seeker in your place, then. I'll miss being a Beater, but Olivia says I'm probably the best one for the Seeker position unless we get someone amazing at the tryouts.”

Al appreciated that James made no mention of Al's disastrous last game the previous year. “My friend Dustin wants to try out for Beater.”

“Yeah? The big guy, right?” James nodded approvingly. “So long as he's got decent aim, he probably has a fair shot. Hope he can keep up with Fred.”

“I'll be trying for Chaser again,” Vincent said when Al glanced at him. “It's too bad you won't be there again with us, but I know how much it stressed you out last year. You better be cheering the loudest from the stands, though.”

Al grinned. “No problem.”

“Hold on.” James held out a hand to stop the other two as they reached the third floor. “Sounds like Peeves is mucking about up here.”

They tiptoed down the hall and spotted the poltergeist hovering by a suit of armor, peppering the floor around it with spitballs and bottles of ink.

Vincent shook his head. “What's he doing? Trying to make a mess and blame it on the next student who comes by?”

“Well it won't be us. C'mon,” James muttered. “Side passage.. this way...” They doubled back and he led them on a different course.

They made it to Gryffindor tower without incident, and Al found Dustin and Felicia waiting for him by the fireplace.

“How was it?” Felicia asked, looking up from her textbook and blinking owlishly at him.

“Gross,” Al admitted. “But not too bad.” He hesitated, glancing towards Vincent, but he and James were already heading upstairs for bed, discussing Quidditch.

Dustin made room on the couch as Al came over and took a seat. “I think James and I have patched things up for now. Now I just have to get him to pull his head out of his backside and apologize to Lily for being such a jerk to her.” He looked at the books spread out over the table, his good mood fading. “Crud. I forgot I've still got to do my homework.”

“Well...” Felicia and Dustin exchanged a glance. “Some of it, anyway. We didn't see how you could possibly finish all your homework after detention and still get to bed before midnight.”

“Plus the whole thing seemed a little unfair,” Dustin added, fiddling nervously with his quill. “Seeing how you tried to stop the fight.”

“So we've kind of given you a... head start.” Felicia picked up a couple rolls of parchments and handed them over.

Puzzled, Al accepted the papers and skimmed them quickly. “Is this... my Potions assignment?” He looked quickly at the second paper with a feeling of glee. “ _And_ my History of Magic essay?”

Felicia beamed. “I did History, Dustin did Potions. Andrew meant to help, but it took him so long to finish his own essay, he didn't have time. He's left his Transfiguration notes for you to look at, though.”

“Wow, thanks!”

“You just have to copy the essays,” Dustin explained, looking pleased at Al's reaction. “Professor Binns might not notice, but I know Zabini will know if it's not your own handwriting.”

Al grinned at them both. “That's amazing. Thanks, you guys. I owe you.”

Smiling, Felicia got to her feet, gathering her books. “No problem. I thought you might need a break after such a bad weekend. Well, I'm off to bed. Good night.”

“Me too.” Dustin waved a little awkwardly to Al, collected his own things, and trudged upstairs yawning.

“Oh-- I almost forgot.” Felicia turned back and tugged an envelope out from her stack books, handing it to Al. “Your brother's owl dropped this off right after you left the hall for detention.”

He took the letter, murmuring a distracted good night as she shuffled off. Tearing open the envelope, he opened the enclosed letter, recognizing his father's handwriting at once.

 

_Boys,_

_We had hoped to surprise you with the Carnival during your winter break, but of course everyone at school would already be talking about it. We'll all be going to the Carnival the day after you get home for break. Let Hugo know, would you? Your Uncle Ron and Aunt Hermione are going as well._

_Stay out of trouble!_

_-Dad_

 

Al grinned, reading the brief note three times through. All the harassment and tension from the last couple days seem to fade into the background. He and James were speaking again, Dustin and Felicia had given him a much-needed hand, and now he had the Carnival to look forward to in a few months.

He picked up a quill and pulled Dustin's Potions assignment over to start copying. It had turned out to be a much more pleasant evening than he had expected, all things considered.

 


	7. Shady Implications

As the days went on, things got easier. Jinxes between Gryffindor and Slytherin were so commonplace in the big scheme of things that one hot-headed duel wasn't a big enough deal for most of Slytherin to be mad about it forever. Evaine and her friends held onto their grudge, but everyone else was busy with schoolwork and Quidditch tryouts.

Dustin was both surprised and pleased when he got tapped as a Beater for the team, while James took over as Seeker. Al went down to watch their first practice with Felicia to provide moral support, though he had an additional ulterior motive. It was one of the few chances he got to see Vincent. For though James was once again speaking to his brother, he and Vincent still slipped away most evenings with Roxie and Fred.

Overall Dustin did a fair job, though he was so nervous about making a fool of himself in front of the team and his friends that it made him overly cautious and clumsy.

“Maybe we shouldn't come next time,” Felicia mused after practice as they waited in the stands for Dustin to return from the team's tent. “I don't think he appreciated having an audience.”

Al nodded distractedly, eyes on the tent flap. He was hoping to catch Vincent before James could rush him off.

Felicia straightened her scarf a bit. It was only the beginning of October, but the temperature had already dropped noticeably by mid-afternoon. “Say, did your brother ever actually apologize to Lily? For, erm, how he acted after the Sorting, I mean.”

Al rubbed his hands together and blew on them to stall. The truth was he had not gotten around to asking James about it because he didn't want to get into another argument. He'd planned on asking Lily directly instead, but he rarely saw his sister. Whether it was because of Evaine or Hugo's friend Robert, she hadn't tried to join Al and his friends again for lunch on the weekends. She seemed to be caught up in her schoolwork; the few times he saw her, she was usually in the library with her friends surrounded by textbooks. It occurred to him for the first time that she may be feeling the strain of trying to get out from under the shadow of her family, just as Al had. And it was probably worse for her, he thought unhappily. Not only did she have _two_ big brothers, one a Quidditch star and the other a prior contestant in the Hogwarts Marathon, but she had to overcome the stigma of being the first Slytherin Potter.

“I don't know,” he finally told Felicia honestly. “I hardly ever see Lily nowadays.”

Felicia gave him a disapproving look. “You need to talk to James about it. Remember that Christmas when you and James were all prickly and it made everything awkward? What if Lily and James are like that during the Carnival?”

“I'll talk to him when I get a chance,” Al grumbled, avoiding her eyes, still staring down at the tent.

“How about Scorpius? Zabini hasn't seemed very pleased with your work lately. Is... is Scorpius still not helping you?”

“No, he's not,” Al snapped, irritated at the mere thought of the other boy. “Lily _must_ have explained what happened that day by now. I mean, I assume she has; he hasn't been as snotty as he was right after the thing with Evaine. But he's still giving me the cold shoulder. Which isn't a huge difference from how he normally is, the troll-faced git. I don't know why I'm surprised.”

Felicia opened her mouth to respond, but just then the tent flap opened and Olivia ducked out, followed closely by Roxanne and Oscar, a short second-year who had shown some truly impressive flying moves during the tryouts and landed himself as a Catcher. A moment later Dustin emerged, looking a little less glum than when he'd gone in. Felicia and Al made their way down the stands to meet him.

“Good job today,” Felicia said, giving an encouraging smile.

Dustin returned the smile a little tremulously. “Thanks. I didn't do that great, but Olivia says I just need some confidence. She says I'll be fine by game day...”

Over Dustin's broad shoulder Al spotted James and Vincent coming out of the tent, deep in conversation. He was trying to think of a way to tactfully excuse himself when Dustin blurted, “She was just being nice, I just know it. I'm going to fail big time in the first game, and they're all going to regret ever letting me on the team!”

Startled by the outburst, Al hastened to reassure him. “No, mate, c'mon. Olivia wouldn't have let you on the team at all if she thought you didn't show promise. I heard her talking in the common room with Fred after the tryouts, she said you have good aim and a really strong swing.” He glanced past Dustin again, but James and Vincent were already leaving the Quidditch pitch and trudging uphill towards the school, still talking. Al gave an internal sigh. There was no way he could politely run after them when Dustin was so upset. He looked back at Dustin and was horrified to see the bigger boy looked on the verge of tears.

“Uh- Dustin,” Felicia stammered, looking equally alarmed. “Al's right, Olivia knows what she's talking about--”

“It's not that,” Dustin said, sniffing loudly. “It's just... I'm not used to having friends. Not like... real friends, I mean. But you guys have been so great to me. I keep waiting for you all to get tired of me.”

Al and Felicia exchanged helpless looks.

“We're not going to get tired of you, Dustin,” Al said firmly. “Don't be silly.”

“Come on.” Felicia put her hand on Dustin's arm and steered him towards the castle. “Let's go in and sit by the fire in the common room where it's warm.”

He followed meekly enough, spending much of the walk back asking Al for Quidditch tips. The seats in front of the Gryffindor fireplace were taken, however. There was a big clump of students gathered together, talking excitedly.

“What's going on?” Felicia asked curiously.

Andrew's head popped up from the crowd at the sound of her voice. Spotting the three of them, he waved them over. “Listen to this! It's unreal.”

They made their way over and Al caught a glimpse of the Daily Prophet spread out on one of the coffee tables. He couldn't make out the headline, but it seemed to be what everyone was so interested in. “What's going on? Did someone else go missing?”

“What? No. Worse.” Andrew leaned in, eyes wide and said in a stage whisper, “ _Dementors._ ”

“What!” Al felt his heart give a frightened jump in his chest. They'd covered Dementors in Defense Against the Dark Arts his previous year, but he knew his father had faced off against them more than once. He rarely spoke of them, perhaps not wanting to frighten his children, but Al knew they had always deeply bothered his father. “Impossible. No one's seen them since--”

“Since a couple years after the war,” Andrew finished for him. “Right. People just assumed they moved on or even died out without a prison full of people to suck dry.”

“The Aurors drove them out of Azkaban and hunted them down,” James said, and Al noticed for the first time that Vincent and James were also hovering over the newspaper. James glanced up and met his brother's stare, his expression grim. “Our father was part of a task force that went looking for them. That was ages ago, before either of us was even born.”

“There's no spell what can kill a Dementor,” an older boy scoffed. “You can drive 'em off, that's all. Mark my words, they may have slunk off, but they're still out there somewhere.”

“Wait, wait,” Felicia held up her hands, looking puzzled. She only knew of the Dementors from class, so was more curious than horrified. Perhaps she'd seen them as some sort of boogeymen, just one more creepy oddity in a world of magic she didn't yet fully understand. “What happened with the Dementors? Was there an attack or something?”

“A sighting,” said a seventh-year, eyes skimming the article. “In some backwater little village. It hasn't even been verified yet. There were only a couple of witnesses, but neither knew the Patronus Charm. It's what's making the Ministry so skeptical. How they managed to escape, I mean. Plus they were both a bit old and one's a known drunk, so...” He shrugged. “It's probably nothing.”

“I hope so,” Vincent said with a shudder. “Dementors... geez. It can't be real.”

“It isn't, no way,” said a girl beside him. “No one's seen a Dementor in years. They were probably just drunk or.. or looking for attention.”

Whether it was true or not, Al hoped his sister wouldn't hear the news. She had been quite frightened by some of Harry's stories, even when he'd glossed over many things. What little he'd said of the Dementors had given her nightmares once. If she thought they might be back, she would be petrified.

Al jerked his head at his brother and moved away from the crowd. James reluctantly followed.

“Think we should write Dad and see if it's true?” Al asked quietly. “It'd be nice to know if it's all a hoax. You know Lily's going to be upset when she hears about this.”

“Yeah, I'd like to know myself. Vincent and I were heading back out, we just came here to put our brooms away. I'll send him a quick note.”

Al resisted the temptation to ask what they were up to, because he recognized his opening. “Have you spoken to Lily at all?”

James glanced away quickly. “Haven't had the time.”

Al forced himself to keep his tone mild. “You really hurt her feelings, the way you reacted to her landing in Slytherin. I think she'd feel a lot better if you apologized.” When James just scowled, he added ruthlessly, “She cried loads after the stuff you said to her.”

That, at least, seemed to get through. James winced, hunching his shoulders defensively. “I'll talk to her if I see her,” he finally gave in.

Figuring that was as best as he could hope for, Al stepped aside and let James hurry back out of the common room with Vincent.

 

~*~

 

Harry wrote back two days later, assuring his children that the Dementor sighting had most likely been nothing at all. Neither witness had been able to describe what they'd seen outside of “big” and “dark”, and the Ministry had officially dismissed the matter. This greatly relieved Lily, who had in fact heard of the supposed sighting not long after Al had.

As the time for the first Hogsmeade visit drew near, the days seemed to ooze by, with all of the third-years dying of anticipation. Dustin seemed especially eager; with his first Quidditch match also fast approaching, he was desperate for the diversion.

Scorpius continued to ignore Al, looking more and more tense by the day. Perhaps because they were both doing so bad in Potions. Lily was still too busy with schoolwork to spend much time with any of her family, and still staggered down the halls yawning, her eyes puffy from lack of sleep. And James, Roxie, Vincent, and Fred continued to sneak off on their mysterious business at least two times a week.

But Al noticed most of these things peripherally. He was caught up in his own studies, and was still getting used to having two additional classes, which meant more homework. Outside of class, he found all of his time devoted to homework, taking a breather with his friends, or occasionally taking Dustin down to the Quidditch pitch for some extra practice, much as Vincent had done for him their previous year.

And then, finally, the weekend before Halloween, the first Hogsmeade visit was announced.

As all those with permission slips milled about excitedly in the courtyard, waiting to show their slips to the apathetic caretaker, Rose threaded her way through the crowd to where Al and his friends were stamping their feet in the chilly air.

“I promised to go wander around with Helen first,” she said quickly, tugging on her woolen gloves. “But I'll meet up with you guys at the Three Broomsticks for some butterbeers in an hour or so, all right?” Giving them a wave, she hurried off towards a tall Ravenclaw girl.

“Permission slips,” came a wheezy voice. Al turned. Eustace Fogworth, the caretaker, was standing behind him, his spider-like hand stretched out. His sad basset-hound eyes barely seemed to register Al at all; his gaze kept wandering as if he were looking for something else to do or trying to remember if he'd left the stove on.

Al and his friends handed over their slips, which disappeared into his voluminous faded robes, and they stepped aside to let him shuffle on to the next group.

“For a caretaker, I don't really see him around much,” Felicia tutted. “You'd think he could find something to do, what with Peeves making messes all over the place.”

“I usually find him in some corner napping,” Andrew said with a grin, chivvying them onwards. “C'mon, c'mon, let's go. Your uncle's got another shop set up in Hogsmeade, right, Al? I barely got to take a look at Diagon Alley. My parents didn't trust me not to smuggle something back to school.”

They scrambled aboard a carriage and took it down the long winding road to Hogsmeade, and Andrew led them straight to the Weasleys' Wizarding Wheezes shop. Felicia and Andrew had a blast moving through the crowded shop, laughing at the ridiculous pranks, but Al quickly lost interest. He'd been in his uncle's shop numerous times in Diagon Alley, and as this particular shop was tended by his uncle's friend Lee Jordan, whom he barely knew, he found himself lingering by the window, watching students bustle by.

He was just wondering if the suggestion of visiting the Shrieking Shack might be enough to pull Andrew away when he spotted a familiar skinny figure stride past, shoulders up and head down against the brisk wind.

“Want to go somewhere else?”

He turned, unsurprised to find Dustin lingering nearby. The boy didn't really seem the type to pull pranks.

“Um, actually, there's someone I want to talk to really quick. I'll be right back. See if you can try and convince the others to wrap it up.” Without waiting for a response, he wiggled his way through the crowded customers and hurried outside. Looking around, he spotted Scorpius turning down a side street. He jogged after the other boy, but slowed when he heard raised voices.

Trying to keep his steps quiet, he crept up to the corner and peeked down the street.

The only things of interest on this particular street were the owl post office and a pink building with a sign that read “Madam Puddifoot's Tea Shop”. Both seemed like odd destinations. Then Al realized who was making all the noise. Scorpius had come upon Evaine and the older boy that Vincent had jinxed.

“He's a disgrace,” Evaine was saying, her expression decidedly unfriendly. “And so are you if you're taking his side.” Al was surprised by this; she had always seemed to hold some sort of respect for Scorpius before.

“I've told you, I don't know what you're on about,” Scorpius said coldly. “You should get your facts straight before you go accusing people of--”

The big boy stepped forward aggressively, cutting Scorpius off by jabbing a finger in his skinny chest. “Don't give us that. Everyone knows he turned tail and ran back when it mattered. Once a cowardly traitor, always one.”

“Touch me again and I'll jinx you into next week,” Scorpius spat with a show of backbone that Al couldn't help but grudgingly admire. He addressed Evaine again, ignoring the boy looming over him as if he wasn't even there. “Whatever you and your pals are up to, I couldn't care less. I'm here to study, nothing else.”

“You're playing guard dog to Potter,” Evaine snapped. It took Al a moment to realize she meant Lily. “And the little cockroach keeps popping up in places she shouldn't, asking stuff that isn't any of her business. You reign her in, or I will. I don't trust her. Slytherin or not, she's still a Potter. She hasn't proven she's one of us yet. And since _you_ keep acting like her pathetic protector, I don't trust _you_ either.”

“I just think it's _pathetic_ ,” Scorpius retorted, throwing her own insult back at her, “for Slytherins to pick on their own. Especially first-years. If you ever expect her to fit in with our House, you need to quit acting like a Gryffindor's snuck into the dungeon.”

Evaine scowled, but Al could tell she was mulling over his words. “Just stay out of our way,” she said finally. “And tell that idiot girl to mind her own business.” She pushed past Scorpius. “Come on, Sean. The others will be at the Three Broomsticks by now.”

“In a minute,” the big boy grunted.

Evaine shrugged and kept walking-- right towards Al. Looking around desperately, Al spotted a stack of crates outside a shop and dived behind them. A moment later Evaine passed him by. As soon as she was far enough down the street, he hurried back to the corner of the building, peeking down the side street once more.

The two boys were having some sort of quiet, intense discussion that Al couldn't make out, though Sean's face was blotchy with anger, and Scorpius looked very tense. It probably had something to do with the fact that Sean had drawn his wand at some point. He wasn't aiming it at Scorpius yet, but he was holding it in what looked like a very tight grip.

“Enough,” Scorpius finally said loudly, cutting off whatever Sean was saying to him. “You really think I care what you think of me, Dumford? I'm not standing in the way of your stupid little club, so--”

“You're with us or against us,” Sean barked, jerking up his wand and holding it inches from Scorpius's face. “I don't care what Evaine says. You had better figure out if you're a coward or not, and I mean quick, or—”

Al didn't realize he'd decided he was going to act until he'd yanked out his own wand and stepped into view. “ _Petrificus Totalus_!”

Sean went rigid as the spell hit him, then slowly toppled over and fell like a lump of unmoving wood.

Scorpius jumped, startled, and whirled around, already reaching for his own wand. He saw Al and scowled darkly. “Potter, what in blazes d'you think you're doing?” he snarled.

“He was about to jinx you!” Al took a few steps closer, eyeing Sean's prone form warily. He wasn't sure how long the spell would last. “What was that all about, anyw--”

Scorpius seized his arm in a hard grip and dragged him back out onto the main street. Al was so taken off guard he stumbled twice and finally had to stash his wand clumsily back in his robes to keep from accidentally jabbing himself or Scorpius with it.

Scorpius continued to haul him along until they were mostly hidden from view behind a huge advertisement stand set up outside a robe shop. As soon as he came to a stop, Al wrenched his arm free.

“Let go of me. You're welcome, by the way.”

“I didn't need your help!” Scorpius looked furious. “You'd better pray he didn't see who jinxed him, or I'll strangle you myself. You think I need the others thinking _you're_ jinxing Slytherins on my behalf? With all the crap that's going on now?”

“What crap?” Al asked quickly. “What were they talking about? What's Slytherin up to? And why--”

“It's none of your business, Potter! Keep your nose in your own House's affairs.”

But Al was not to be deterred. “They were talking about Lily. She _is_ my business. I mean, I'm really grateful you're still sticking up for her, even if you've been a prat to me lately, but--”

“You started a duel with a bunch of Slytherins.”

“With Evaine and _those_ idiots!” Al waved a hand back towards the alley. “That Sean guy and his other big friend. And I didn't start it, I tried to stop it! Which I'm sure Lily has already explained to you. I can't believe you're still going to get onto me about that after that oaf just threatened you.”

Scorpius glared at him for a long moment, then finally some of the hostility bled from his face. “Fine. So maybe you tried to stop it. It doesn't matter. Evaine's gunning for you big time now. And half of Slytherin's going to take her side. Things are getting... tense with certain families.”

Al's stomach dropped. He had to bite his tongue fiercely to stop the words that tried to leap out. _Families_. Evaine's uncle was supposedly in Azkaban for being a Death Eater; who knew if her parents leaned the same way but had just been more cautious? And everyone knew the Malfoys had been Death Eaters, defecting only at the last possible second to save their own hides. Harry's good word was all that had kept the family from a stint in Azkaban, and many had resented him for it. Was Scorpius implying there was some infighting amongst the Slytherin families? Death Eaters against everyone else? Or just purebloods?

Scorpius glanced over Al's shoulder. “Just stay out of it,” he hissed, then turned and hurried away.

“Al!”

He turned at the sound of his name. Dustin, Andrew, and Felicia were hurrying towards him.

“Is everything all right?” Felicia's worried eyes flashed towards Scorpius's retreating form. “Was he picking on you?”

“No. Nothing like that.” Al hastily waved it away. He was not sure if he should speak of the implications Scorpius and Evaine had made, much less who he should confide in just yet. “Let's go to the Three Broomsticks and see if Rose is there yet. It's getting pretty chilly out here.”

The other three exchanged unhappy looks, obviously wishing for more details, but finally Dustin turned and led the way to the cozy little pub that they'd all heard so much about.

 

 


	8. Carnival

James must have finally taken Al's advice and apologized, because he and Lily seemed to be at least talking to each other again by the time the winter holiday arrived.

It seemed that the Carnival was all anyone could talk about. At least half the student body claimed to be going, and anyone who had any overseas contacts who had attended in the past was suddenly very popular. Everyone wanted to know what sorts of entertainment were in store.

The only thing to temporarily change everyone's focus was the first Quidditch game, in which Gryffindor flattened Hufflepuff. The success managed to leech Dustin of much of his doubts in his own abilities, considering the fact that twice it was his well aimed and powerfully hit Bludgers that were key contributors to some of the most fantastic Chaser plays in the game. Fred was over the moon; he'd obviously been worried about having a new partner after being a Beater with James for the past couple years. And James, of course, had found a great appreciation for his new role as Seeker. Snatching the winning points in a dramatic move at the half-hour mark had heaped him with all sorts of praise and attention, which he thrived on. Lily had even snuck over to the Gryffindor stands so she could cheer for her brother and cousins without the derision of her House all around her. This solidarity, Al suspected, had as much to do with James's later apology as Al's own entreaties.

Al did not learn until the last minute that at least one of his friends was sure that they wouldn't be going to the Carnival.

“My parents could never afford it,” Felicia admitted at breakfast the day after the match. She wouldn't look up from her porridge, her ears pink. “I'm sorry I didn't tell you earlier. I haven't even told my folks about it. I did some research to see how much it is, and the travel cost _alone_...” She shrugged. “We're going to my grandparents instead. They always decorate the entire house and they have a big farm, so I like going there. Maybe some other year I can bring up the Carnival again, if we ever have the spare money.”

Andrew seemed confused until Al reminded him that Muggles couldn't Apparate. “They'd have to pay for plane tickets or train tickets or whatever, then pay for a Muggle hotel, _then_ exchange Muggle money for galleons to get into the Carnival, which isn't exactly super cheap. There are even some other students that can't afford to go, and they're from wizarding families. Heck, I was afraid my folks wouldn't want to risk the expense, either.”

“Oh.” Andrew gave Felicia an awkward pat on the shoulder. “Sorry, mate. I'll get you a souvenir, yeah?”

She gave him a weak smile, and after that the others were careful never to mention the Carnival in her presence.

 

~*~

 

The day after they got home for winter break, the Potter family got up early and hurriedly gulped down a hot breakfast and bundled up before Harry hustled them out of the house to line up in the yard.

“Right, so we'll be doing side-along Apparation,” he explained, fixing Lily's scarf as she practically bounced with excitement. “I'll take Lily first, then your mother will take you, Al, and I'll come back for James. Don't go wandering off when we get there; we're meeting with your Uncle Ron first.”

“Is it scary?” Lily asked, eyes wide.

“Nah.” James, who'd been the only one to do side-along Apparation with his father once before, was wearing a very knowing expression. “You'll probably throw up after, but the trip is quick.”

Lily looked alarmed, and Harry shot his son a quelling look. “You'll be fine,” he said firmly. “It's not unusual to feel dizzy or queasy afterwards, especially the first time, but don't worry. It happens to everyone. I nearly got sick the first time Dumbledore Disapparated with me. All right, take my arm.”

She gripped his arm tightly, and he turned in place; they both disappeared.

“Try not to burn the house down in the few minutes it takes for your father to return,” Ginny said to James with a smile. She offered her arm and Al took it, trying not to look as nervous as he felt while James was watching.

“Move with me,” Ginny instructed, and as she took a spinning step, he clumsily stepped with her into intense pressure and nothingness. It was an unpleasant feeling, and he was certain he'd left his stomach in the front yard.

Then air was rushing in and he was stumbling away from his mother, retching a little and waiting for the ground to stop spinning wildly.

“Whoa!” A hand caught his shoulder to steady him. Still bent over, willing his vertigo away, he recognized his Uncle Ron's voice. “Easy now. See, not so bad, just weird.” Ron added in a lower voice, “Don't feel embarrassed, Hugo just projectile-vomited all over the poor ticket seller.”

Al couldn't help but laugh, and straightened up, his stomach finally settling and his eyes able to focus once more. Lily was seated on a bench a few feet away, pale from the experience but otherwise all right.

“Here, dear.” Ginny handed him a glass of water. “Go sit with your sister, I'm going to pick up the tickets. Ron, where's the booth for pre-ordered tickets?”

“Be right back,” Harry said, tipping Al a wink and twisting into nothingness.

Al seated himself on the bench beside Lily, sipping his water and looking around. They were in a field about the size of the Quidditch pitch back in Hogwarts. Littered at random intervals in the grass were odd objects: ratty shoes, watering cans,top hats, empty pickle jars, and other garbage. As he watched, a family of five suddenly appeared out of nowhere in the field. The father tossed aside a patched gardening glove and ushered his family towards a crowd lined up waiting for tickets at a small bright red booth.

Lily was also watching, her face a mask of befuddlement. “What are they _doing_?”

Al had just realized the answer when Rose came over and sat down with them. “They're Portkeys,” she explained, smiling in greeting. “For those who don't want to Apparate. We almost did that. Mom was worried about Hugo Apparating so young, and Dad had a nasty splinching accident back during the war so he's not too fond of it. But we didn't wake up early enough to reach the Portkey nearest our house, so we ended up doing side-along after all. It was so _weird_. But not as bad as I was afraid it'd be.” She pointed, and Al turned for the first time towards the Carnival entrance. “Look, there's been loads of people spilling in ever since we got here. It seems like half of the wizards in Britain are here.”

Past the ticket booth was a huge flashing arch with the words WIZARDING CARNIVAL blinking in rainbow colors. Past it Al could catch a glimpse of several colorful tends and booths and something went soaring through the air, sparking madly. Upset stomachs forgotten, Lily and Al got to their feet eagerly. Hugo came hurrying over, face alight with excitement.

“I just saw Regina Bosman, she said they have pegasus you can ride!”

“Pegasi,” Rose corrected.

But Hugo seemed not to have heard. He and Lily had locked eyes and were staring at each other in awkward silence, obviously unsure whether to still be mad at each other or not.

Al jumped at a loud _crack_ nearby. Harry had just Apparated with James in tow. James looked a little green, but he didn't throw up.

“What took you?” Ginny asked. She and Hermione were returning from the ticket booth, both looking a little ruffled.

Harry shook his head slightly, flicking his eldest a glance. “We were discussing something. Did you get the tickets?”

“Practically got trampled, but yes.” Ginny handed each of them a shiny gold ticket with the words WIZARDING CARNIVAL EU TOUR ... ALLOW 1 printed on them in huge blocky letters. There was a picture of a dancing troll dressed up like a clown at the bottom.

“Do _not_ lose these,” Hermione said firmly. “The man at the booth warned me a few people have tried to sneak in, so they periodically go around asking random people to present their tickets. If they catch you without one, you're booted off the grounds.”

“A few ground rules,” Ron said quickly, snagging Hugo when he stuffed his ticket into his pocket and made as if to head for the entrance. “This is a big place. We don't need anyone getting lost.”

“We know your friends are here and you might want to run off and find them,” Hermione said, giving Hugo a stern look. “But you and you,” she pointed from her son to Lily, “are to have one of the older kids with you at all times, understood? It doesn't have to be these three. If you run into Dominique, Fred, or any of your older cousins, you can go with them.”

“We don't need babysitters!” Hugo protested. But Lily, staring at the crowd at the entrance with big eyes, said nothing.

“Think of them as chaperones,” Ginny said, waving away the argument. “If I find out any of you,” she eyed the older three with a severe frown, “left these two alone, you will wish you hadn't. I mean it.”

Harry pulled out a long folded paper and opened it up to reveal a map of the Carnival. “If you guys do go wandering off to meet with friends, we're all meeting up here for lunch at noon.” He pointed to an area marked _Food Stands_. “Make sure you're there.” Al stared at the map, entranced. It was beautifully done, with tiny pictures of each ride, game, and shop. There were paths, directions, and a map legend. There were also a mass of dots moving to and fro all over the map.

“The maps are enchanted,” Ron said, taking out his wand. “Watch.” He tapped it and said clearly, “Luna Lovegood.” One of the moving dots lit up white.

“I wasn't sure she'd be here,” Ginny said with interest. “We'll have to hunt her down and say hello. I wonder if she brought her sons. They've got to be out of diapers by now.”

“Oooo!” Rose squealed, enraptured by the map. “That's so useful! I've never seen magic like that.”

James and Al exchanged a quick glance. They'd heard of a somewhat similar map, of course, from their father's stories.

“There are stands everywhere set up with these maps,” Hermione said, handing another one to Rose. “They're free, so each of you can grab one if you get turned around.”

James leaned over her shoulder to see. “They've got Hippogriff racing! I want to see that.”

“Where are the pegasus rides?” Lily asked, bouncing on her toes.

Rose pointed to a small field with many little dots colliding together. “Look at this one, what are bubble wars?”

Harry laughed, ushering them all towards the entrance. “I suppose we'll find out.”

The Carnival was packed with witches and wizards, but it was big enough to keep it from feeling overwhelmingly overcrowded. The air was filled with delicious scents from the food carts, colorful smoke, and the shouts and laughter of the attendees. The two families stuck together at first. They tried out the bubble wars-- which turned out to be groups of people enveloping themselves in enormous bubbles and then floating around an area trying to collide with each other and pop other players' bubbles. Then there was a rocket ride that would shoot straight into the air, do a series of loops while it trailed bright pink smoke to spell out the names of the riders before coming gently back to earth to deposit the riders, dizzy and unable to walk a straight line. Hugo, Al, and Lily rode the pegasi, but James said he preferred brooms and Rose was afraid of their big blocky teeth. They all went through a haunted house infested with real boggarts, ghosts, and poltergeists, and Lily was startled so badly at one point Al was half afraid she'd wet her pants.

Then Fred, Roxanne, and Vincent showed up, faces painted and grinning from ear to ear, and hauled James away. Shortly after that, Rose and Hugo went with their parents to try some of the booth games.

“Can we sit down for a moment?” Ginny pleaded. “My feet are already killing me.” She pointed towards a sandy arena surrounded by shouting spectators. “Maybe near there, where we can watch whatever's going on.”

While Harry secured them some seats, Al hurried over to a nearby stand of maps and took one. He unfolded it and tapped it with his wand. “Andrew Heathcliffe.”

No dots lit up,but he wasn't too surprised. Andrew had already warned that he would be arriving later than Al's family. Al stared at the map for a moment, chewing on his lip. Felicia wasn't coming. Vincent was, of course, off with James. And Dustin would be arriving with Andrew's family because they lived in the same neighborhood and had decided to travel via Portkey together.

On impulse, he tapped the map again. “Scorpius Malfoy.”

A dot glowed white, not too far away. There were two other dots with him, presumably his parents. Torn, Al stared at the dot as the glow slowly faded. He was having fun with his family, but also wanted to share the Carnival with someone his own age. Would Scorpius be a little more friendly here than he was at school, away from the suspicious eyes of other Slytherins? Did Scorpius himself wish to explore with someone other than his parents? But Al would have to bring Lily along, and while she was aware that Scorpius was watching out for her at school in his own way, would she even want to hang around him here?

“What're you looking at?” Lily had come up and was looking around his arm at the map.

Al pointed towards where he'd seen Scorpius.

“The Crystal Cave,” she read, running her finger over the tiny drawing of a sparkling hill with a wide cave mouth. “Ohhh, that sounds neat. Can we go see it?”

Al hesitated, then folded up the map. Even if he got there and Scorpius spurned his attempts at niceties, he could just take Lily on to the cave without looking a fool or wasting a trip. “All right.”

Ginny did not seem overly pleased by the idea when Lily asked. She seemed to have assumed Rose or James would be with them. “Just the two of you?”

“I think some of my friends are over there,” Al said evasively.

“They'll be fine,” Harry said lightly, pulling his attention from the arena where people were attempting to ride what looked like enormous red otters. “Just keep your sister with you at all times, and make sure you're both at the food booth area by noon.”

They promised and made their way through the Carnival, marveling at the sights and pointing out games and rides to perhaps try later in the day. They passed a few friendly students with their families and friends, including an older Slytherin girl who smiled briefly at Lily.

“That's Cora,” Lily explained happily. “She's a sixth-year, she's helped me with homework once or twice. She doesn't usually think before she speaks, but she's actually quite nice once you get to know her.”

“Speaking of Slytherins,” Al said quietly. Lily turned to see what he meant.

The Malfoys were just coming away from some sort of ride that looked like an enormous black barrel that could fit half a dozen men. It didn't move at all, but there was a cacophony of sound from the people inside, and Mrs. Malfoy looked quite ill. Her husband was guiding her by the elbow over to a bench.

Al took a deep breath and walked over, trying to look casual. “Oh, Scorpius!” he called, lifting his hand in a hesitant wave.

The boy turned at the sound of his name and stared at him, as if he'd completely forgotten Al would be attending. Or perhaps he'd just assumed they wouldn't run into each other in such a large crowd. Draco also looked up, and his mouth pulled into a tense frown.

Al hesitated, wondering if he should just nod and keep walking, but Mrs. Malfoy turned slightly and saw them as well, and her smile was inviting. “Oh, your friend from Diagon Alley! Introduce us, sweetie.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is a bit short, but that's because it was getting way too long and I ended up having to chop it into two separate chapters instead.


	9. Sunstones

Scorpius glanced at his parents, then back to Al, obviously unsure how to react. “Um. Hi,” he finally muttered. He made a lame gesture between Al and his parents. “This is Al and Lily.”

“Potter,” Draco put in. His wife blinked, clearly startled, but she didn't say anything.

“Nice hat,” Lily said sweetly, and Al lifted his hand to hide a grin.

Scorpius flushed. His coat was nice, nicer than anything Al owned, but the hat was clearly homemade. It was too large for his head, and whoever had knitted it had tried to make it striped with emerald and silver, the Slytherin colors. The stripes, however, varied wildly in width and ended up making more of a spiral around the crown. It was lumpy and ridiculous, and did not suit him at all.

Scorpius opened his mouth for a retort, but his mother gave a weak laugh from where she was drooping on the bench. “It's awful, I know,” she said. “I was never very good at crochet or knitting. I worked hard on it, but in the end I gave it to him as a sort of joke.” She smiled fondly up at her son. “Yet he kindly insists on wearing it.”

Scorpius turned even redder, mouth twisted in an uncomfortable grimace.

Lily looked mortified. “I-I'm sorry, I didn't know-- I mean, it's very nice...” she trailed off pathetically. Mrs. Malfoy just laughed again, waving her hand to show she had not taken offense.

“Have you been in the Crystal Cave?” Al asked quickly, hoping to steer the conversation to safer shores. “Lily was curious about it.”

“Oh, it's lovely,” Mrs. Malfoy said, perking up a bit. “You really should see it. It's just over...” She looked to and fro, then pointed in a direction. “Just over there somewhere, I think. Past that garish tent. Scorpius, dear, you can show them.”

“They have a map,” Scorpius pointed out.

“Be nice, dear. And I know you'd like to spend at least some time today with your little friends. I need to get off my feet for a bit anyway.”

“Dear,” Draco started to protest, but she talked right over him.

“Oh, let him have some fun with children his own age for once. Go on, Scorpius, enjoy yourself.” She smiled at Al, then began digging around in her handbag.

Scorpius and Al eyed each other a little warily, but when Draco didn't say anything else, Scorpius jerked his head and led the way through the crowd. The people were packed tightly here; there were several game booths set up. Lily ended up latching onto Al's hand to keep from being lost in the crowd, and Al had to follow very closely behind Scorpius.

“Well at least I'll be able to pick you out of the crowd,” Al teased. “I just have to look for that hat.”

Scorpius turned a glare on him, but Al only smiled impudently back.

“Ohhh, what's _that_?” Lily suddenly cried, tugging on Al's hand to stop him.

Some of the booths were actually selling things. The gaudy mauve booth Lily was pointing at had a man demonstrating with a pair of trainers with buzzing wings on the heels that levitated him a good six inches off the ground. Several adult witches and wizards were watching with amusement, unimpressed, but the children seemed fascinated.

“Merlin's beard, I hope Fred or Roxanne haven't seen this booth,” Al said. “Can you imagine the trouble they'd get into whizzing all over the castle in those?”

“It'd make getting to class on time easier,” Lily giggled.

“Yeah, until Fogworth or one of the Professors nicked 'em,” Scorpius drawled. Al hadn't realized he'd hung back to look. “There's no way those would be allowed.”

“What about those?” Lily pointed excitedly to the next booth. “Look, Al, little figurines of all the magical creatures here at the fair. I want to see if they've got a pegasus!” And before Al could stop her, she wiggled past the crowd and made her way towards the booth.

“Great, she's going to blow all the money Dad gave her on a tiny prancing horse whose enchantment will likely wear out in a month.” With a heavy sigh, Al sat down on the nearest bench to wait for her.

After a moment's hesitation, Scorpius took a seat as well, though he kept a healthy distance between them. He opened the Carnival map to study it.

Al glanced over at him, searching for a conversation topic. Mr. Malfoy had looked a little haggard. As if he wasn't sleeping well. Even Mrs. Malfoy, though friendly, had borne shadows under her eyes. Al couldn't help but wonder if it had anything to do with what Scorpius had said in Hogsmeade about infighting amongst some of the purebloods. But bringing it up was sure to put Scorpius in a foul mood or even make him leave, so instead Al pointed to the map.

“My dad owned a map like that once. It was made by my grandfather and his friends. It showed everyone in Hogwarts, and where they were.”

Scorpius glanced at him sidelong. “I heard it mentioned once, though I thought it was bullocks.” Al wondered if Draco had been the one to let mention of it slip, but didn't ask. “I always thought it was a great idea for a spell, but it seemed really tricky.” He looked back at the map. “This one is even more clever. Being able to find someone specific instead of a load of names all over the place cluttering it up.”

“Unless you were trying to figure out who was who,” Al said, pointing to a random dot. “This map only shows you who you're looking for. My father's map was able to tell you who might be sneaking up on you down the hall, even if they were disguised.”

“Hm.” Scorpius frowned slightly, finger skimming along the masses of dots. “What if you had a map that could do both?”

“That would be amazing,” Al admitted. “But I've never heard of such a thing. My father's map was pretty large; it had to be, to show everywhere and everyone without, well... 'cluttering it up'. This map is too small to show everyone.”

“So with a big enough map, you could do both.” Scorpius lifted his head slightly and stared off into space. “I've never heard of anyone doing it, either. But then, this is the first time I've seen a map like this. I suppose very few wizards could figure out the correct spells to make it work.”

Al studied his expression, trying to catalog it. It wasn't one he recalled seeing Scorpius wear before. Intense but detached at the same time. He was picking the problem apart in his mind, Al realized. Trying to decode the secret of it and guess how it might have been done.

“D'you think it would take some sort of transfiguration?”

Scorpius blinked, seeming to come back to himself. “Probably.” His eyes dropped to the map again. “Some complicated charms, too.” He frowned suddenly, stuffing the map in his pocket. “But that sort of thing could turn out to be dangerous, too. In the wrong hands.”

“You think you could ever make something like that?”

Scorpius finally looked right at him, mouth still turned slightly downwards, though his eyes were thoughtful. “I dunno. I like trying to figure out how certain spells are done. Or undone. I suppose it's why I enjoy Transfiguration class.”

Al found himself fascinated. This was a glimpse of Scorpius he had been unaware of. Picking apart unknown or complicated spells was not his idea of a good time, and he suspected he was not clever enough for it. But it cast Scorpius in a different light, somehow, knowing such complicated puzzles were what kept him preoccupied in his downtime. “My Uncle Bill used to be a curse breaker. For Gringotts. He got to travel all over the world deciphering and breaking curses that protected treasure and other things like that. Maybe you should think about getting a job like that after school.”

“A curse breaker?” Scorpius frowned again, his brows knitted. “I didn't even know such a job existed.” He looked away, lost in thought for a few moments, then sighed quietly and shrugged, dismissing the idea. “Father would never approve.”

“So what? It's your life, isn't it?”

Scorpius clenched his hands together tightly in his lap, still looking away. “Yeah. But I think he has his hopes set on me working at the Ministry.”

Al turned his attention back to the crowded booths, wondering if Lily was still picking out a figurine. He was thinking perhaps he ought to wade into the throng and fish her out when Scorpius asked with casual disinterest, “How big would it have to be?”

“What?”

“A map like that. You said your father's was large.”

“Oh. Er... I dunno. I've never actually seen it. He might've lost it. Or just didn't want me or James to ask to bring it to school. But he did say when it was fully opened, it practically covered his whole bed.” He made folding gestures with his hands. “It folded up multiple times so that it could be carried around. Parts of it were cut and then reattached, and then _they_ folded. For the different floors, I suppose.”

“Hm.” Scorpius had that pensive look on his face again.

Just then Lily wiggled her way out of the crowd and hurried over, empty-handed. “They were all out of pegasus,” she sighed.

“Pegasi,” Scorpius corrected automatically.

Lily made a face at him, and Al had to turn his head to hide a smile. “Whatever. Anyway, they had a unicorn one, but they were all really expensive, so I guess I'll hang onto my gold for now. I can always check back later if I don't find any other souvenirs to buy.” She looked suddenly worried. “But what if all the good ones are sold out by then?”

“Never mind,” Al said firmly, getting to his feet. “Come on, I thought you wanted to see the Crystal Cave.”

Scorpius took the lead again, and soon they found the queue for the cave. Al could not tell if the hillside was real or manufactured by hand or magic somehow, but it certainly looked like a grassy hillside from where he was standing. There was a craggy cave opening that clumps of people were being let into, and even from where they stood at the back of the line, they could see something sparkling enticingly from inside.

“So what is it, really?” Al asked, arching a brow at Scorpius. He had half expected the boy to abandon them as soon as they found the place, and was hoping to distract him. “Just a bunch of crystals stuck in the walls?”

“Yes and no.” Scorpius reached into his pocket and held out what looked like a chunk of glass or quartz smaller than his thumb. Every time he turned it and let the sun hit it, it sent off myriad rainbow flashes.

“Ooo, so pretty,” Lily breathed, entranced.

“You don't know what this is?” Scorpius gave them both a haughty look. “Of course you don't. This is a rainbow crystal.”

“Aptly named,” Al said dryly. “Big deal. Does it actually _do_ anything besides glitter like that?”

Scorpius sighed as if disappointed in Al's ignorance. He obviously enjoyed proving he knew more than they did. “The weaker ones do. One like this, for instance, would usually just be cut into jewelry. It's really popular for engagement rings and pendants and the like. My mother has one passed on from her grandmother. She figures she'll pass it to me some day, I suppose. Anyway, this one's kind of milky, see? Cloudy. But the strong ones are clear, and they shine like crazy. Another name for them is sunstone. You leave one out in the sun for a day and it will store the light and then shine with it for eight or twelve hours. You keep it in a little lead box, and then take it out in the dark and it'll light up the room. Supposedly they're also used when making crystal balls for seers. You grind it up and mix it with the molten glass, and it's supposed to hold onto prophecies so you can store them. But they're pretty expensive.” He pocketed the crystal. “Anyway, pretty much all the crystals in the cave are fake. Glass, quartz, things like that. They've just been enchanted to glow and sparkle. If you were to bring a fake one out into the sunlight, it'd be obvious right away. But there's a room you go through, near the end, and the floor is just covered in pieces like this one. You're allowed to pick one up. Most of them are garbage. Just pieces of the fakes throughout the cave. But some, like this one,” he patted his pocket with a smug look, “are real. My mother actually found this one, but she gave it to me. Early Christmas gift. It doesn't have any practical use, a cloudy one like this, but she says I should hang onto it and maybe one day I'll want to get it fashioned into some sort of jewelry.” He rolled his eyes. Al suspected he was more interested in owning a rare and expensive sunstone for the prestige than he was in owning any jewelry it might be crafted into.

Lily was practically bouncing in place. “Al, can you imagine if we pick up a real sunstone? Even if it's one of those cloudy ones, I could have a necklace or a ring made out of it! Or one of the other ones, the clear ones, how useful that would be. Let's go!” She tried to push them both towards the line.

“They only let you go through once a day,” Scorpius said, sidestepping her hand. “Otherwise just about everyone would be tromping through nonstop, digging for real sunstones.”

“How long does it take to go through the cave?” Al asked.

Scorpius shrugged. “I dunno, maybe ten minutes?”

Al hesitated, glancing from the cave to Lily. He did not have any particular interest in owning a sunstone. And if he and Lily went in now, Scorpius would surely return to his parents.

Lily seemed to sense his reluctance. “I can go in without you,” she said quickly. “You wouldn't _really_ be leaving me alone. It's just ten minutes, and I'll be with a group, like the others.” She pointed towards the front of the line, where the wizard checking tickets was selecting five customers to let through.

“Well... all right, but--”

Lily barely waited for his agreement before rushing off to join the queue. Scorpius shifted his feet awkwardly, perhaps wondering why Al had remained behind and if his mother would scold him for returning so quickly.

“C'mon,” Al said. “Let's try some of these game booths.”

Scorpius tagged along reluctantly, but by the time they'd played Rescue the House Elf, Bullseye the Dementor, and Toad Racing, he was in better spirits.

Al was teasing him about his lousy aim as they tried to lob spinning firecracker rings onto dancing bottles, when it occurred to him that it had been well over ten minutes and Lily had still not returned.

As soon as they finished the game, Al took out the Carnival map and tapped it with his wand. “Lily Potter.” One of the dots immediately lit up. To Al's surprise, she seemed to just be emerging from the cage. “How is she just now finishing? It's been like twenty minutes already.”

Looking over his shoulder at the map, Scorpius shrugged, unconcerned. His score in the ring toss had been miserably low, just enough to earn him a chocolate frog, which he was already unwrapping. “Maybe the queue to get in moved slower than expected.” He caught the frog when it tried to leap away, and dug the card out of the wrapper. He looked at it, grunted, and flipped it around for Al to see. Al found himself staring at a tiny moving portrait of his father. Underneath the photo was a description and a very short biography.

 

_**Harry J. Potter – The Boy Who Lived – The Chosen One – Hero of the Second Wizarding War** _

_Best known as the only known survivor of the Killing Curse and the vanquisher of Lord Voldemort during the second Wizarding War. A talented Seeker in Hogwarts Quidditch and discoverer of the Chamber of Secrets in his youth, he became a skilled Auror. Harry is currently married to Ginny Potter (_ _née_ _Weasley), previously of the Holyhead Harpies. Father of three children._

 

“Mom keeps these every time she finds one,” Al admitted with a grin. The Harry in the portrait smiled and waved. “She's got a box full. She knows it annoys Dad. I think he was pleased to be put on the cards, but not with all the ridiculous titles they put on there with him. At least he actually looks like an adult in this one. The oldest ones she has, he's only eighteen or so.”

“Al!” Lily came running up, beaming and clutching something in her fist. “It was so pretty in there. Here, hold out you hand.”

He did so automatically, and she dropped a crystal into his hand. It was bigger than Scorpius's, about half the length of his wand, but thicker. It glittered and shone so much he had to squint. “Is this--?”

“A clear sunstone!” Lily looked immensely pleased with herself.

Scorpius was staring at the crystal with his mouth slightly agape. “How did you get one so big?”

Lily shrugged, glancing away. “I dug around a _lot_. There were a few bigger ones like this, but I had a good feeling about this one. Anyway...” She smiled again. “Al, it's for you. An early Christmas present, because I couldn't really think of anything good to get you this year, so what I did get you is kinda lame. This can make up for it!”

“Lily, that's too much,” Al protested, trying to hand it back. “You found it, it's a really lucky find. You keep it.”

“It's okay, I have another one.” She reached in her pocket and pulled out one a little smaller than Scorpius's, and similarly clouded. “I can make this one into jewelry some day.”

“You're only supposed to take _one_ ,” Scorpius said, looking irritated. “You can't just _steal_ two. How did they not notice you had two? They checked everyone with the _Accio_ spell before they were allowed to leave the cave when I went through earlier.”

Lily flushed. “I... um... someone had dropped this one. Right outside the cave. Maybe they didn't want one that was all cloudy or whatever. I figured I'd keep this one and Al could have the other one.”

Al looked from the shining crystal to his sister, unsure. “Lily--”

“ _There_ you are!”

They turned, startled. Andrew and Dustin were hurrying over, grinning. Andrew was waving the Carnival map over his head. “This thing's bloody useful. I was afraid I'd have to search for you all over the pla-- What is _he_ doing here?” His smile turned quickly into a scowl as he noticed Scorpius. “Nice hat, Malfoy. Did you dig it out of a rubbish bin?”

“Hey,” Al snapped, but Scorpius flicked the Harry Potter card at Al, spun on his heel, and stormed off. Al picked the card up out of the dirt and turned to give Andrew an impatient look. “He was actually being _nice_ to me for once. What'd you have to go at him like that for?”

Andrew shrugged, unmoved. “You can't trust him, Al, I keep tellin' ya. Anyway, what rides have you done? Dustin and I only just got here about ten minutes ago. I want to try _everything_.” He and Dustin seemed to notice the crystal in Al's hand at the same time. “What is _that_?”

“I know what that is,” Dustin said excitedly. “That's a sunstone! My grandmother had one, but someone stole it from her a few years ago. They're really rare, how did you get one?”

Lily began explaining the cave, and Al glanced back to see if Scorpius was still in sight. He'd slipped away into the crowd, however, and was long gone.

Afterwards, as they threaded their way through the crowds to visit the barrel ride that had so disturbed Mrs. Malfoy, Lily tugged on Al's sleeve to slow him down a bit.

“I saw another one,” she whispered. “That weird snake picture. Someone carved it into one of the crystals right inside the Crystal Cave. One of the wizards working there saw it and got really weird about it, he rushed us right by it.”

Al frowned. “Maybe the others are right, and it really is just some silly graffiti. It pops up in the weirdest places, but doesn't seem to actually mean anything.” He ruffled her hair when she looked ready to argue. “Don't worry about it, Lily. And thanks for the sunstone. Maybe it'll come in handy some day. Now c'mon, forget about that weird drawing. Let's just enjoy the Carnival.”

 

 


	10. A Tenuous Lead

James acted oddly secretive the rest of the winter break. Al might not have noticed if Harry hadn't also so obviously been in on it.

At least once a day James would hunt down his father and speak to him in private. The one time Al tried to follow them to see what they were up to, his mother called him away. A little hurt, Al proceeded to act like he didn't notice that the two of them were having some sort of secret bonding time, and refused to bring it up again. Which was just as well, since James obviously had no intention of telling him about it. Usually after these mysterious meetings he looked irritated or disappointed. But one day he returned looking triumphant. Al turned away deliberately to focus on something else. He got the feeling James was hoping Al would ask what was going on just so he could gloatingly withhold the answer.

Lily had also noticed, though she didn't seem to care. “Remember the day of the Carnival, when they didn't Apparate right away? Dad said they were talking about something.” She shrugged, returning her attention to a letter from her friend Hillary. She had finished all of her back-to-school packing and was lounging on Al's bed keeping him company. “Bet that had something to do with it. Maybe Dad's just giving him some kind of advice he'll give you when you're older.” She made a face. “Maybe it's dating advice. I saw him making eyes at that Ravenclaw girl, Emma, on the train.”

Al doubted it, but didn't want to seem too sulky about it, so he let the matter drop. He tossed a few pairs of socks into his trunk and rummaged around in his dresser for anything he might need. His fingers landed on something hard, and he pulled out a present from the previous Christmas that he'd completely forgotten about. “Hey.” He tossed it onto the bed. “Put that in your trunk. You should keep it with you at school. It's better than jinxing Evaine in the back of the head and landing in detention.”

She picked up the slingshot, turning it this way and that. “This could be handy.” Her grin slipped slightly. “But Vincent gave it to you. Are you sure--?”

“It's just a loan.” He shut the dresser drawer harder than he'd meant to. Vincent had stuck to James like glue during the entirety of the Carnival. The two of them had explored every inch of the Carnival with Roxie and Fred. He'd seen Al for only a few minutes on his way home, and had barely remembered to shout a cheery goodbye. “Anyway, he probably already forgot he gave it to me.”

Lily sighed quietly, but tucked the slingshot into her pocket without comment. She didn't speak again until Al was struggling to close his trunk on his wadded-up robes and shirts. Folding them would probably have saved him some room, but he did not feel like unpacking it all again just to go through such a tedious task.

“Hey, this is weird,” Lily said, frowning at the letter she was reading. “Hillary said she thinks her grandfather tried to contact her.”

“So?” Al sat on the trunk lid and gave a grunt of satisfaction as the latch finally caught.

“Her _estranged_ grandfather,” Lily said meaningfully. When Al only gave her a blank look, she rolled her eyes at him. “In Slytherin, an 'estranged relative' is what a lot of kids use to refer to family members or close family friends who were on the wrong side of the war.”

Al got to his feet quickly. “You mean Death Eaters.”

“Death Eaters and other Voldemort sympathizers, yes.” Her eyes skimmed the letter, her brow lowered. “Even Slytherins who obviously don't see anything wrong with that aside from the fact that those people ended up on the losing side use the term.”

“Right. Can't go around admitting you think Voldemort had a sane thought in his head. Might make you seem untrustworthy or barmy.” Al sat down beside her, concerned. “Why are you friends with a girl who had someone in their family like that?”

Lily gave him a dirty look. “It's not like that. She only told me a little while ago, and anyway, Hillary thinks Voldemort and his followers were complete lunatics. She says his whole thing about purebloods was idiotic, and we'd all be dead or inbred if we didn't marry Muggles and spread the magic around more. _Anyway_ ,” she tapped the letter, “she told me her grandfather was on the run. Terrified of getting locked up in Azkaban. No one's seen him since shortly after that last battle of the war in Hogwarts. But she got an anonymous present for Christmas that she's almost sure is from him. Don't you think that's odd? You're on the run for over twenty years or whatever, and suddenly you decide to peek your head out even with all these rumors of Aurors getting called on suspected Death Eaters lately?”

“Maybe it's not 'despite',” Al said slowly. “Maybe it's 'because'. If he thinks other Death Eaters are coming out of hiding, maybe he thinks it's safe to. Especially since there haven't been arrests; all these rumors just end up being people falsely accused so far, right?”

“I guess.” She folded up the letter slowly, gazing off into space. “But what if some of the accusations are true? That would mean more ex-Death Eaters are coming out of hiding again. But why now?”

There was a quick rap on the bedroom door, and they both jumped.

Ginny popped her head inside. “Oh good, you're done packing. Wash up, dinner's in ten. Leave your trunks in the hall and your father will get them to the car.” She looked at them more closely. “Are you all right? You two seem a little nervous.”

“It's nothing,” Lily said hastily, stuffing the letter in her pocket and sliding off the bed. “I'll get my trunk.” She hurried out, and after she was gone, Ginny returned her attention to her middle child.

“How's she been holding up at school?” she asked quietly. “She seems all right now, but she looked so tired when we picked you up at the start of the break.”

“I think she's all right.” Al noticed a textbook he'd forgotten on his floor and went to retrieve it. “I think she's been studying a lot. She looks tired at lot at school, too. But she's made some friends.”

“But no enemies, I hope?”

Al hesitated, staring down at his textbook. He wasn't sure how much Lily had said about Evaine to their parents, and didn't want to worry them. “Some brats,” he said casually. “But nothing she can't handle. She insists Slytherins don't jinx each other. Plus Scorp--” he stopped.

Ginny arched a brow at him. “Yes?”

Al opened his textbook and flipped through it, pretending to look for something important. “Oh, er, Scorpius is keeping an eye on her for me. Just... yanno, making sure no one tries to harass her or anything. She's been doing fine, really.”

“Scorpius Malfoy,” Ginny said slowly, her mouth turning down in a pensive frown. “Lily said you two met up with him at the Carnival. Is he your friend?”

“I don't know. I don't think so.”

Ginny studied him for a moment in silence, but he kept his eyes glued to his book. Finally she gave a soft sigh. “Well... I trust your judgement, Al. You've usually got a good feel for people.”

He looked up at last, a little surprised. But she was already leaving, her voice light once more. “Now go wash up. And don't forget your trunk. You better have folded those robes. I just ironed them this morning.”

 

~*~

 

Predictably, all anyone wanted to talk about on the train ride back was the Carnival. Felicia listened to the stories with a false smile stamped on her face, clearly trying to hide her jealousy. She wasn't the only one; there were several students who hadn't been able to go due to finances or familial obligations. But she cheered up a little when Al and the others presented her with the souvenirs and gifts they'd gotten for her. She was especially enamored with Dustin's gift; he'd gotten her one of the little creature figurines that Lily had been so interested in.

As she watched the tiny hippogriff march across her palms with delight, Al flicked Dustin a look. The creatures were expensive; it was why Lily hadn't gotten one for herself. It seemed like a pretty pricy gift, though perhaps Dustin figured the reaction it earned was worth it. He sat with a pleased smile on his face, which was slightly pinker than normal, as Felicia squealed over the tiny moving figure.

As they exited the train and headed for the horseless carriages, Rose excused herself from a clump of Ravenclaws and went running to catch up to Al. “Al, I need to talk to you,” she whispered, tugging on his sleeve. “In private. Come find me after dinner.”

Al looked at her curiously. She seemed tense. He barely had time to agree before Andrew was chivvying him into the carriage.

At dinner, Shacklebolt announced that the teams for the Marathon would be announced the following week. This year, it seemed they would be doing the Marathon earlier in the year.

“Maybe to give the students a chance to earn points through schoolwork for the rest of the year,” Felicia mused, watching her tiny hippogriff preen itself next to her plate. “Especially if they do that Last Chance thing again.”

Al winced slightly at the mention of the Last Chance. Using it to divvy out the points amongst all four Houses had not made him any fans in Gryffindor at the end of his second year. “It'll be nice to actually watch it this time,” he said. “I mean, I'm sure no one from last year's teams will get picked again. I know James really wants to do it.”

“Fat chance,” Andrew said quietly. “The only non-Gryffindors I've _ever_ seen him be helpful to are family.”

Al frowned, but could find no argument, so let it go. He glanced down the table towards his brother, and was startled to see a girl sitting on the bench beside him. She looked vaguely familiar. A moment later he spotted the blue on her tie and made the connection. “That must be Emma,” he murmured, pointing her out. “The girl James likes.”

Andrew and Felicia looked over with interest. “She was on the Quidditch team, yeah?” Andrew said around a mouthful of potatoes. “She's pretty cute, I guess.”

“She seems a little... flighty for a Ravenclaw,” Felicia said hesitantly.

Al watched the way the girl flipped her hair and practically bounced in her seat. She kept looking at James through her lashes and giggling at every other thing he said. It looked a little ridiculous to him, but James seemed to be enjoying it. Vincent was ignoring the both of them, shoveling food into his mouth without lifting his eyes from his plate. On his other side, Roxie and Fred were making gagging gestures.

“Houses aren't supposed to mix during meal times,” Felicia started to complain, then fell silent when Flitwick came hurrying over and rapped Emma smartly on the knee to get her attention.

Blushing furiously, Emma leapt to her feet and fled back to the Ravenclaw table, pursued by Roxie's loud bark of laughter. Several of the other Gryffindor Quidditch members immediately scooted down closer to James to harass him mercilessly.

“Maybe making goo-goo eyes at a Ravenclaw girl will be enough to get him into the Marathon,” Andrew joked.

 

 

Al had gotten so distracted by talk of the Marathon and James's love life, he'd completely forgotten about Rose's request. He was halfway up the staircase, deep in conversation about Quidditch with Dustin and Andrew, when Rose rushed up behind him and gave his robe a quick yank.

“Al,” she hissed. “I still need to talk to you.”

“Oh, right. Sorry.” He waved to the others. “I'll catch up.”

Rose led him back downstairs and down a corridor until she reached an old classroom. “ _Alohamora_ ,” she murmured, tapping the lock. At Al's raised eyebrow, she flushed and said defensively, “I'm hardly breaking in. It's just some old storage room nowadays anyway.” Opening the door, she led him inside.

“ _Lumos_ ,” Al said, holding up his wand. The room was packed with stacks of old desks. Some were clearly extras, set aside for retrieval. Others were broken, vandalized, or otherwise unusable, waiting for someone to repair them. There were also several odds and ends from various classes, mostly dinged-up cauldrons, empty bottles, several ratty-looking old brooms, and even a couple of murky looking glass globes.

He turned to his cousin, baffled. “How'd you even find--? Never mind. What's all this about?”

“Hold on, we're waiting for someone.” Rose tugged a stool from under one of the desks and sat down, hands clasped tightly in her lap. “You know how you've been asking about that weird sign you and Lily keep seeing? The snake?”

“The snake breaking the wand, yeah.” Al looked around and perched on the edge of one of the sturdier looking desks. “Have you seen it, too?”

“Yes. In Hogsmeade, actually. Carved into the leg of one of the tables in the Three Broomsticks. While I was waiting for you and the others to come back from the joke shop. I dropped my bag and spotted it when I bent to pick it up. I got distracted when my friends brought over some butterbeers and forgot all about it until.. well...”

There was a hesitant knock on the door, and Al hurried to open it. A Ravenclaw girl, a year or two older than himself, stood in the hall, looking uncomfortable. She did not seem keen on entering a dark abandoned room, but looked past Al and saw Rose. She pursed her lips together briefly, then stepped inside.

Rose slid off her stool and gestured towards the girl. “This is Ruth. She's friends with one of the girls I hang out with, so we talk sometimes. Ruth, this is my cousin Al. Go ahead and tell him what you told me.”

Ruth glanced from Rose to Al, face pinched. “This is about Travis, or that stupid picture?”

“Both. Start with the snake picture.”

“Fine.” She crossed her arms defensively, looking like she would rather be anywhere else. “I saw some weird drawing of a snake wrapped around a stick or a wand or something. During winter break, at the Carnival.”

“Where?” Al asked quickly.

She frowned at him. “Near one of the booths, I don't remember which one. Someone had sketched it onto the rubbish bin. Anyway, there were some Slytherin blokes about, so I assumed it was one of them that did it. So I asked Travis about it a little while later.”

“Travis Gruten,” Rose explained. “A Slytherin. They dated for a couple of months.”

“Until I caught the smarmy bastard cozying up to Wilma Cornwall on the train,” Ruth sneered. “I'd been thinking of dumping him for weeks, so I guess I should be glad of the excuse.” She waved her hand in a dismissive gesture, as if she could wipe away the time she'd wasted on him. “Anyway, so I asked him about the drawing because honestly we rarely had much to talk about lately and I was kind of desperate for any kind of topic to get him to actually talk to me for once. He acted really funny about it. I think if I hadn't asked him while we were alone, I'd have never gotten an answer out of him. He said it belonged to some kind of group or club or something, and that those symbols were supposed to be placed around for specific reasons. But either he didn't know what reasons, or he didn't want to tell me. I asked if it was some silly Slytherin thing, and he just said 'sort of'. Whatever that's supposed to mean. It is or it isn't, right?”

Al nodded, confused.

“He was keen to know where I'd seen it, but I couldn't remember where in the Carnival it was, so he let it drop. It was funny, he seemed kind of...” Ruth paused, frowning thoughtfully. “I don't know how to put it, really. Envious? Like... someone on the outside looking in. Like he knew some of what was going on, but wasn't in on it. I guess. He didn't really like talking about it.”

“Is he a pureblood?” Al asked impulsively.

Ruth gave him a frosty look. “What does that have to do with anything?”

“Ruth,” Rose said quietly. “He's not being rude, he's just trying to figure this out.”

Ruth rolled her eyes. “No. It was kind of a big deal to him that he wasn't, in fact. See, his family _was_ pureblood, until his grandmother married a Muggle. That makes him a half-blood, and I guess some of the other Slytherins turned up their noses at that. So stupid.”

Al gave Ruth a helpless look. “I think I'm more confused than I was before,” he admitted. Turning back to Ruth, he asked, “Did he say anything else about the mark or this group that was supposedly drawing them?”

“Not really. He started grumbling to himself about it for a bit, like some pouty child being kept out of the clubhouse. I heard him say something about some kind of secret meetings he wasn't invited to or something, but then he shut up and wouldn't say anything more.” She looked at Rose pointedly. “And that's all I know. It's all a lot of rubbish. Can I _go_ now?”

“Yes, thanks so much, Ruth.” Rose got to her feet, but waited until Ruth had flounced out of the room before speaking again. “Well? Bizarre, right?”

“Yeah...” Al began pacing, chewing on a fingernail. “Okay, so... these symbols _are_ being put up by Slytherins. Probably mostly purebloods. That explains why Travis was being left out, and maybe why the others are giving Scorpius a hard time.”

“Wait, what about Scorpius?”

“Nothing.” Al waved the interruption off impatiently. He doubted Scorpius would want Al telling anyone about the confrontation in the alley in Hogsmeade. “The symbols aren't just random, they're meant to... mark things or places. Or that's what it sounds like. But they're showing up in such weird places. And these meetings... I'll bet anything Evaine's in on it. But where would they be meeting? Not in their common room, or Travis would know more. And Lily probably would've noticed. I wonder if they know about the Room of Requirement.” He stopped pacing and looked at Rose, suddenly full of doubt. “Maybe this is all some harmless 'Purebloods are Great' club where they all get together and talk about how useless the rest of us are. D'you think I'm giving this all too much thought?”

“I don't know,” Rose said slowly, looking troubled. “On the surface... yes, it seems thin. And probably harmless. But I guess it's just when I look at it together with some of the other strange stuff going on, like all these supposed Death Eaters being reported, and that rumor of Dementors...” She shrugged. “It might be nothing. But what if it's all connected? It's probably worth looking into. _Carefully_. We don't need anyone like Evaine to notice we're noticing. Not unless we want another incident like the one that landed you all in detention.”

“Which means we can't tell James,” Al said firmly, beginning to pace again. Knowing that Rose believed it wasn't nonsense and was willing to help had fired up his determination. “He'd go poking around loudly and end up in a duel with Evaine or something. Probably get himself kicked off the Quidditch team. But I think I should tell Lily. She can keep an ear to the ground in Slytherin.”

“Are you sure? You won't be there to protect her if Evaine cottons on and corners her in the common room one night or something.”

Al stopped, staring at the wall and debating with himself. Hadn't Evaine accused Lily of “snooping around” when she'd been arguing with Scorpius? “She's going to look into it whether I want her to or not,” he finally said. “She's been really curious about those symbols. It's only a matter of time before she finds _something_ out. I'd rather us be sharing information than her think she has to get proof or something before coming to me with it. _That_ could be dangerous.”

“All right, if you say so,” Rose said reluctantly. “I'll keep my eyes and ears open. Are you going to tell anyone else about all this?”

It only took a few moments' thought for Al to reach a decision. “Just Felicia for now. I know I can trust her to keep her head. Andrew will either think the whole thing's nuts or he'll pick a fight with Slytherin looking for answers.”

“Good choice. Who knows, she may be able to see things from a helpful perspective,” Rose mused. “Growing up with Muggles, maybe she won't be seeing connections where none exist or leaping to any wild conclusions based on rumors or prejudice that the rest of us grew up with.”

“Sure.” That had not occurred to Al, and he wasn't sure how sound the theory was, but it was usually easier to just agree with Rose rather than endure a lengthy explanation. “Well, thanks for the heads up. I'd better get to the tower before curfew.”

He was halfway through the door when Rose's quiet voice gave him pause. “Al.” He turned to give her a questioning look. She looked unhappy and nervous. “I hope this really is nothing. But in case it isn't... Well, just tread carefully, all right? Once you start looking too hard into things, something tends to look back.”

Al had no idea how to respond to that, or even if he understood what she meant, so he just gave a confident nod and slipped into the hall.

 


	11. Secret Studies

He told Lily everything Ruth had disclosed, and as he expected, it made her even more curious.

“I'll definitely keep an eye on the purebloods,” she promised. “Especially Evaine and her creepy friends.”

“Just be _careful_ ,” Al reminded her earnestly. “Remember, if Evaine wraps you in a bedsheet and hangs you from the rafters in the Slytherin dungeon overnight, none of us can help you.”

“Trust me,” Lily said with what Al considered questionable confidence. “She'll never know.”

James, meanwhile, seemed to have his own secret agenda. But this time he did not seem to share it with his cousins or Vincent.

“Where does he keep slipping off to by himself?” Al demanded as he watched his brother dart off on yet another of his his mysterious errands right after dinner one night. “He goes running off Merlin knows where at least twice a week lately.”

“No idea,” Vincent admitted with a frown. “Lately he seems very tired but very smug about something. He won't tell us what's up.”

“Maybe he's practicing for the Hogwarts Marathon?” Felicia suggested.

Roxie and Fred had wandered over to collect Vincent, and neither looked pleased at Felicia's words. “He better not, the git,” Roxie grumbled. “We--”

Fred elbowed her into silence. “C'mon, Vincent, we're going to study in the library before Quidditch practice.”

Vincent rolled his eyes good-naturedly at Al. “He hides it well, but he's really stressed about his O.W.L.s,” he murmured as soon as Fred was out of earshot. “Even when we can't help him out, he's usually buried under books with Louis and some other fifth-years most evenings. If he didn't have Quidditch to blow off steam, I think he'd go into hysterics like poor Tiffany Wilkins.”

  

Two days later, the Sorting Hat was carried into the dining hall so that the teams for the Hogwarts Marathon could be announced.

“I don't know why they look so hopeful,” Andrew muttered, eyeing Roxie and James further down the table. “Unless they've been secretly disappearing all school year to help poor little Slytherin first-years, they've gotta be pretty low on the list of contenders.”

“I think Roxie talked Fred out of volunteering,” Al said, noting that his older cousin seemed only vaguely interested in the Hat's appearance. He had brought a schoolbook with him to look over while he ate. “He's got to focus on his O.W.L.s.”

Andrew turned out to be right. In fact, most of the names called for the teams were at best only somewhat familiar to Al. But he gave a surprised cheer when the Hufflepuff member for team 2 was chosen.

“Louis definitely deserves it,” Felicia said with hearty approval, clapping as loudly as the others. “He's always helping anyone who asks.”

“I guess I'm just more surprised that he didn't opt out,” Al said, grinning as his cousin joined his teammates at the front of the hall, looking flustered. “He's got his own O.W.L.s to worry about.”

As Professor Shacklebolt stepped forward to congratulate the teams and explain when the Marathon would be taking place in the following week, Trinity came twining between students' ankles, startling Dustin so badly he jumped and banged his knees on the underside table.

“Sorry,” Al muttered, leaning back to allow the cat to leap up into his lap. She had a rolled-up note slipped under her collar. Tugging the parchment free, he glanced over Lily's sloppy handwriting.

_Something's going on, I'm not sure what yet. But I do know that Evaine's been talking_  
_about some kind of meet-up this weekend. I'll let you know if I figure out what she's up to._  
 _P.S... I don't think all the purebloods are in on it. Some of them have been hassling others_  
 _like Scorpius and a couple others. Maybe they don't all agree on whatever Evaine is up to, I dunno._

Al glanced towards the Slytherin table automatically, but Lily was hidden from view. He crumpled up the note and stuffed it in his pocket. He hoped that Lily would exercise caution during her snooping. It would probably be more prudent to tell her to just leave it alone, but if he tried to stop her, he risked her doing it anyway without telling him. And he was just as curious as she was at this point about what the purebloods were up to.

“What was that about?” Felicia asked curiously.

“Nothing, she just wanted to gossip,” he lied. He didn't want to talk about it in front of the others, but he gave her a significant _tell you later_ look.

When he finally managed to pull her aside to discuss it that evening in the common room while Andrew and Dustin argued over the theme of their History of Magic assignment, she looked troubled.

“I can't believe I'm suggesting this,” she said at last, “but have you ever asked Malfoy about these weird marks?”

Al frowned. “No.” The thought had crossed his mind more than once, but he had always decided not to go through with it. Especially now that he knew of the tension between Scorpius and Evaine. “He'd probably just blow me off and maybe even avoid me again. I told Lily not to bug him about it, either. Evaine is already mad that he's sticking up for my sister; if she catches the two of them whispering together, I don't know what she'll do.”

“Well, if something really is happening this weekend and you want to know what's going on, I think you need to ask him.” Felicia chewed nervously on the tip of a braid. “I know you don't like alienating him for some weird reason, but this is more important than him being nice to you in potions. I think Rose is right, this is too many weird coincidences at once. This could be important, and you need all the information you can get.” She glanced at her watch. It was a mundane Muggle watch that did nothing more fancy than show the current time, which had greatly amused Andrew when he first saw it. “Curfew isn't for another hour, and I saw Malfoy heading for the library right after dinner. You might still catch him there.”

Al sighed. It seemed useless to put it off when two people whose judgement he trusted were telling him the same thing. He needed more information before the weekend, and Scorpius was the only other Slytherin besides Lily who might actually be willing to share it with him. “Okay. Tell the guys I'm returning a book or something. I'll try to be quick.”

He was halfway out of the portrait hole when Vincent appeared at his elbow. “Hey,” he said a little awkwardly. “You off to find James as well?”

Al hesitated with one foot still inside the common room. “What? No, I thought he was with you. I just have to, er, go to the library real quick.”

“Oh.” Vincent motioned for him to move along, then followed him out. “No, James is off on another mysterious little outing. I don't know where he's been disappearing to, but he's been busy doing his own thing since we got back from winter holiday. I want to know what's up.”

Al walked in silence beside the older boy for a few moments, then finally blurted, “All of you have been sneaking off most of the year without letting any of us in on the big secret. Pretty annoying being on the other side of that, isn't it?”

Vincent stopped abruptly, and Al hesitated, wondering if he'd gone too far. But Vincent looked weary, not irritated. “I'm sorry about that,” he said. “I know you've probably been feeling a little hurt that we're all being so secretive, but I promise it's nothing big. Half the time we're just doing intense study sessions with Fred. He really is worried about his O.W.L.s, you know.”

Al blinked, surprised. He knew of his cousin's anxiety about his upcoming O.W.L.s, but had not expected the others to so doggedly help him study. “That's it? You've been sneaking off to help him study? Is Fred really so afraid of it hurting his image that he'd keep it a secret?” He paused. “Wait, you said 'half the time'.”

“Wellll...” Vincent scratched at his neck, looking sheepishly away. “Okay, so remember how last year you, me, and your friends were sort of practicing spells in case we got picked for the Marathon? Well, James wanted to know how we managed to kick so much butt in the Marathon, especially you, and so over the summer I sort of told him about our training sessions.” He shrugged, still not looking at Al directly. “He said we should do the same thing. Even if none of us got picked for the Marathon, he said it'd help Fred with the practical parts of his O.W.L.s and make the rest of us better wizards.”

Al gaped at him. So many responses leapt to his tongue that he couldn't settle on one and instead ended up making an offended croak.

“I don't know why he was keeping it from you,” Vincent admitted. “Maybe it was some dumb sibling rivalry thing, I wouldn't know. I'm an only child. Or maybe he wanted me to be a part of _their_ training things instead of disappearing with lowerclassmen again. I don't know. It's dumb. I'm sorry I didn't tell you. But see, it really is nothing bizarre or suspicious. He wasn't hiding anything big from you.” He paused, wincing slightly. “Well... except for--”

But Al was not interested in listening any more. Half of him felt like yelling, and the other half of him was sure that would seem childish and dramatic. Luckily, they had just come up on the library. “I have to return a book,” he interrupted. “I'll see you later, maybe.” Turning on his heel, he hurried into the library, leaving Vincent standing awkwardly out in the hallway.

He paced from one aisle to the next, staring up at the books on the shelves without really seeing them. He was struggling with his own hurt and anger, and had forgotten the reason he'd come to the library in the first place. _Vincent was James's friend before he was mine,_ he reminded himself fiercely. _What do I care if they want to go practice spells all the time without me? I did it last year with Felicia and Vincent and my friends, there's nothing wrong with James having Vincent help him out this year._

But knowing his jealousy was foolish did not magically make it go away. James had never been the sharing type, so why should his friendships be any different? He'd never been a fan of Vincent hanging out with his kid brother; why was Al even surprised?

He fumed and paced for several minutes before he finally came out of the history section and caught a glimpse of a familiar pale head bent over a thick book at one of the tables.

“Oh, yeah,” he muttered, forcibly shoving all thoughts of James and Vincent to the back of his mind. Glancing around quickly to make sure no other Slytherins were nearby, he hurried over and slid into the seat opposite Scorpius. “Hey.”

Scorpius slowly lifted his head to offer Al a displeased scowl. “I'm busy, Potter.”

“This is important. I'll be quick.” He reached out and tugged a blank piece of parchment out from under Scorpius's elbow, then quickly grabbed the quill when Scorpius belatedly reached for it.

“Hey!”

Al ignored him, biting his tongue in concentration as he tried to make a drawing that did not look like a caterpillar or a worm. “Have you ever seen anything like this before?” He spun the crude drawing around and shoved it back across the table.

Scorpius didn't even look at it. He was glaring at Al a little helplessly. “Why are you like this?” he demanded.

“What?” Al tapped the drawing. “Just look, will you?”

But Scorpius just kept on glaring. “Am I going to have to do something bad to your cat to get you to dislike me enough to leave me alone?”

“Oh, please. You like my cat.” He pushed the paper closer so it was crumpling up against Scorpius's arm. “ _Look_ , will you?”

Scorpius snatched up the drawing and transferred his glare to the paper instead. He stared at it for several moments before finally growling, “What is this supposed to be, Potter? Two snakes--?” He went abruptly silent, his eyes widening slightly. He crumpled up the paper into a ball and threw it so it bounced off Al's head.

“Hey--!”

“Go away, Potter. I have homework to finish.” Retrieving his quill, Scorpius hunched back over his book, his shoulders tense.

“You recognize it,” Al said, picking up the wadded-up sketch and shaking it at the other boy accusingly. “I keep seeing it in the weirdest places. Did you know Lily saw it at the Carnival? In the cave. What is it, Scorpius? _Tell_ me.”

“It's none of your business, that's what it is,” Scorpius hissed, hunching over even further as if trying to hide.

Al crossed his arms stubbornly. His earlier flare of emotions over Vincent's reveal was making him feel rash. “Tell me what it is or I'm not leaving. I'll just sit here and annoy you for hours and hours and hours and--”

Scorpius's head jerked up, and the glare he gave Al was so fierce that Al's words stuck in his throat in surprise. Scorpius had glared at him plenty of times, but this was the first time he'd actually looked almost...

_dangerous_ , his mind supplied helpfully.

Then Scorpius was glancing down again, and the moment's alarm had passed. When he spoke, Scorpius just sounded defeated. “All I know is it has something to do with some of the purebloods. Obviously they haven't let me in on their little secret. You saw what Evaine was like in Hogsmeade that day.” He took in a deep breath through his nose, his fingers clenching on the edge of the table. “I think my father knows, but he won't tell me. All I know is it must mean trouble. And I'm trying to stay out of it.” He shot Al a quick scowl. “Like _you_ should be doing.”

Al began unfolding and crumpling the drawing over and over, a little unnerved by Scorpius's strong reaction. Doubt once again was creeping up on him. Perhaps he should have just left it alone after all. But still his curiosity prowled in the background, along with the knowledge that even if he wanted to back out, Lily knew too much already and would be less likely to let the thing go until her own curiosity had been satisfied.

Maybe Scorpius was right and he never should have started asking around about this. If it was just some dumb Slytherins in a secret club, how much damage could they really do? Okay, so the fifth House had managed to do quite a bit of damage, but nothing _permanent_. And they'd been stopped. In fact, was it possible he'd never have gotten hurt during that final confrontation if he hadn't kept snooping around trying to get to the bottom of that particular mystery?

“Purebloods,” he suddenly said, struck by a startling thought.

Scorpius refused to look back up at him, stubbornly staring down at his book as if he could neither see nor hear Al.

Al stuffed the paper in his pocket and leaned over, trying to catch Scorpius's eye. Thinking of the fifth House had stirred an unsettling suspicion. “I keep hearing mention of purebloods come up about this, but never actually _just_ 'Slytherin purebloods'. Is this a Slytherin thing or a pureblood thing? Or both?”

Scorpius looked up at him slowly, his brow creased. “I don't know how many times I have to tell you I don't know anything about any of this.” He paused, then added reluctantly, “But it's an interesting question. Wait.” He slammed his book shut, earning an annoyed hiss from the librarian. “This. _This_ is what your nosy idiot of a sister has been up to with all her sneaking around and her clumsy interrogations and--” He shook his head in disgust. “You're both just _begging_ to get the hair jinxed right off your heads. You already know Evaine's involved in all this. What do you think she'll do when she realizes what your sister is up to? I'm not going to protect her from her own stupidity.”

Al sighed, getting to his feet. The conversation was clearly not going anywhere. “All right, all right. I'll leave you alone about it. See you later.”

“Potter.”

Al stopped and turned, brows raised in question.

Scorpius was staring at his book, refusing to look up at him. He looked tense again. “Just how long are you going to keep trying to pretend we're friends? Am I going to have to deal with this all the way through seventh year?”

“I dunno. Maybe.” Scorpius finally lifted his gaze to shoot him a quick glare, and Al couldn't quite keep back a taunting grin. “I think I'm wearing you down.”

“ _Hmph_.” Scorpius quickly returned his attention to his book, grumbling under his breath. His ears seemed oddly pink.

Satisfied that he'd had the last word, Al left him to his studies. As he climbed the stairs back towards Gryffindor tower, he glanced occasionally out of the window. Most of the snow was melting away, and he could see smoke twining its way skyward out of Hagrid's chimney. The Whomping Willow was lashing irritably at some determined birds, and...

And there was James, coming out of the greenhouse.

Al stopped and pressed his nose to the glass. The angle was not ideal; he could barely even see the greenhouse, but even from this distance he recognized his brother. James was speaking to someone. A moment later Neville stepped into view, clapping a hand on James's shoulder, then handing him something. James immediately ate whatever it was and started back towards the castle.

Al stepped away from the cold glass, puzzled. Was that where James kept sneaking off to? Was he doing poorly enough in Herbology that he was seeking out extra lessons with Neville? It might explain why he hadn't told anyone what he was up to. It must be too embarrassing. But what had he eaten? There were some plants Neville tended to that were used for medications for the school infirmary, but Al had never known him to hand out the raw ingredients to students. He briefly considered waiting for James to come up the stairs so he could confront him about it, but just then Peeves came floating down through the ceiling.

“OooOOooo,” he crowed, flipping upside down and making horrendous faces. “Likkle Potter's trying to sneak out past curfewwww!”

“Curfew isn't for another half hour,” Al snapped. “Get lost, Peeves.”

This was, of course, the exact wrong thing to say. Trying to tell Peeves to do anything always practically guaranteed he'd do the opposite. He began bobbing in the air around Al, singing loudly and cheerfully.

“Albutt Pottree's out of bed! Alcus Porter's got a big head! And every time he shows his face--”

Al rushed past the poltergeist, swinging his arm in a futile attempt to brush him aside. “Get out of it,” he snarled, trying to ignore the pair of nearby first-years who had stopped to watch and laugh. “Don't you have someone else to bother? Why don't you go drop worms in Evaine's bed or something?”

Peeves cackled, still circling him as Al raced up the stairs. “Maybe I will... Later! But don't be rude and interrupt, my song's got another five-hundred verses to go!”

He shouted more sing-song insults all the way up to the Fat Lady's portrait, and Al had to scramble inside clumsily, his hands held over his ears and his face burning. Luckily, Peeves didn't follow him inside, hopefully deciding the worm idea was interesting enough to carry out.

“Peeves?” Andrew guessed from where he was sprawled in the chair by the fire. Peeves's deranged singing had clearly been heard by everyone in the common room as Al tumbled inside. Several of the students were snickering at him.

Ignoring them, Al went to join Andrew by the fire, dumping himself on the rug because a couple of sixth-year girls were cuddling on the couch. “Yeah. I wish the Bloody Baron would scare him away from the castle for good.”

“Oh, I dunno, he's good for a laugh sometimes,” Fred drawled, coming and draping himself over the back of the chair and grinning down at his cousin. “He's got a real knack for songwriting.”

“Oh, shut up,” Al muttered, digging in his bag for his Charms book.

Roxie joined her brother, propping her elbow on his bowed back. “Hey, sometimes he picks on kids who actually deserve it. We're pretty sure he's the one who pelted Evaine and her goons earlier today with rotten eggs.”

“What?” Al looked up, his own embarrassment fading. “He did?”

As Fred hooted with laughter, Roxie explained, “Yeah, her and a couple of her buddies were just walking to class, and suddenly they started getting bombarded with stinky eggs. It wasn't any student, no one was on the right side of the hall for it. We figure Peeves fired off a few eggs and got scarce because the Bloody Baron was further down the hall. It was great. Evaine was shrieking like a bat. The smell was _unreal_...”

Al and Andrew laughed loudly at the thought.

“I wish I'd seen it,” Andrew sighed longingly. “If Peeves would just only use his evil power for _good_...”

“Hey, there he is!” Fred straightened up suddenly, dislodging Roxie's arm. Al turned to see James and Vincent coming in through the portrait hole. “Where have you been, James? Off in some dark corner with Emma?” Roxie made sloppy kissing noises.

James smirked, but didn't answer. Vincent grimaced.

Al returned his attention to his book, pretending to ignore the teasing. If James was just getting help in Herbology, Al wasn't going to rat him out. Fred was busy studying every spare minute, and if some of that had rubbed off on James, it could only be good for him.

“Hey.” Felicia came over and sat on the rug next to Al, putting her head close as if helping him with his homework. “Did you talk to Malfoy?” she whispered.

“Yeah,” he muttered. “He recognizes the symbol, but insists he doesn't know anything more about it than I do. I think he knows a little more than he's letting on, though. He didn't seem happy about the fact that we're sticking our noses into it. He thinks we're asking for trouble.”

“He may be right,” Felicia admitted. “Remember first year, when you thought about going to a Professor about the fifth House? You didn't because of your brother and cousins. But this is different. Maybe it's time to give one of the Professors a heads up. They might know what it is, and be able to put a stop to it. Or they might explain that it really isn't anything bad at all.”

Al snorted quietly. “What are we supposed to say? 'Hey, someone's doing lame graffiti and we don't like it'? They'll just tell us to stop bothering them. We need proof that it isn't anything harmless.”

“Well I hope you find it soon,” Felicia sighed. “This whole thing makes me uneasy. The sooner it's all explained and over with, the better.”

“Don't worry so much,” Al said, trying to sound much more confident than he really felt. “It'll probably turn out to be nothing big at all.”

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the lame title, I could not for the life of me think of what to call this chapter. And apologies for the delay as well. I kinda pooped out after the last chapter and was struggling with writer's block.


	12. Unseen

It was a little odd to be on the outside watching the Marathon teams scuttling around the school in packs, whispering together and frantically looking for places to train during the weekend. While Al distinctly remembered not enjoying the practices himself-- he and Scorpius had to work twice as hard to impress their skeptical upperclassmen teammates –the Marathon itself had been a little thrilling. Everyone had admired the contestants, and he had definitely put on a good face for his House during the trials. People had talked about his team's final face-off against the golem endlessly.

Andrew was quick to bring him back to reality when Al made mention of the previous year's competition. “Yeah, but remember when you kind of ruined it all by using the Last Chance and turning most of Gryffindor against you?”

“Thanks,” Al grumbled, glancing around to make sure no one had overheard. “And keep your voice down, will you? I don't want anyone _else_ thinking about that right now and giving me dirty looks again.”

“I'm here for you, buddy,” Andrew said around a loud yawn, settling himself more comfortably in the grass.

It was still fairly chilly out, but Rose had impressed them all with an area-warming spell. She was lying on her back nearby, wand waving lazily in the air as it pushed warm air around their little group.

Felicia was watching a little wistfully, clearly debating on whether she should ask how the spell was done. She still struggled with half her spells. After a moment she instead pulled out her little hypogriff figurine and watched it walk around in the grass. Dustin, seated by Al with his nose in a book, smiled without looking up.

Al leaned back on his hands, looking around. There weren't many people outside, even though it was the middle of a Saturday. Very few students knew spells like Rose's, so had either gone down to Hogsmeade or were sitting by cheery fires in their common rooms. Al was wondering if he could spot a friendly Hufflepuff who might be willing to loan him an extra scarf. He wanted to wear the colors of Louis's House to the Marathon to support him.

He didn't see any Hufflepuffs, but he did see a knot of Slytherins hurrying back towards the school, huddled together and whispering. Al sat up straighter. There were five of them, and Evaine was with them. So was the big guy, Sean Dumford, who had threatened to jinx Scorpius in the alley before. He looked exhausted, dragging his feet, his eyes puffy from lack of sleep. His other big friend-- Richmond, Zabini had called him –looked equally out of sorts, though he also seemed a little jumpy, glancing around nervously with bloodshot eyes every few seconds.

Andrew had noticed Al's sudden attentiveness and rolled onto his stomach to see what had him so interested. “Where are they off to?” he growled. “They look like they're up to no good.”

“Leave it,” Rose said firmly. “They're not hurting anybody. Don't go looking for trouble.” She gave Al a significant look.

He pretended not to notice, still watching Evaine and her cronies hurry off towards the school. His heart rate had kicked up a couple of notches. What if they were off to one of their secret meetings? Or planning on jumping Scorpius again? Merlin's beard, what if they were heading off to teach Lily to mind her own business? Or what if Lily spotted them and decided to follow them and was caught? His mind spun with unpleasant possibilities.

He didn't realize he'd climbed to his feet until Felicia asked nervously, “Where are you going?”

Al hesitated. Perhaps it would be wise to bring backup. But Rose would flat-out refuse, Felicia wouldn't be any help if a duel started, and Dustin would probably be too scared, even if he was almost as big as Dumford. Al glanced at Andrew, but dismissed the idea immediately. Andrew wouldn't want to be stealthy, he'd want to pick a fight.

Al mentally scrambled for a plausible lie. “Seeing them made me think of Lily, that's all. She said she might be in the library today, I'm going to try and get her out into the fresh air. Maybe I can find Hugo, too.”

“Yes, get both of them,” Rose said. “They seemed to be getting along a little better at the Carnival, and I want to make sure they've patched things up.”

“Sure,” Al said with a wave. Felicia was frowning at him, clearly not buying it, and he hurried off before she could speak up.

He slipped inside the school through one of the side entrances and hurried down the halls, desperate to catch up with Evaine and the others in the main hall. He'd never figure which way they'd gone if he didn't see them first. He dodged a couple startled second-years, was forced to duck behind a suit of armor for a moment as Peeves floated by, and sprinted down the last corridor at a dead run, knowing he was probably already too late.

He rounded a corner and crashed right into someone coming the other way. They both went sprawling, and Al yelped in pain. He cracked his knee on the floor and his shoulder would surely have a bruise from where he'd slammed into the wall on the way down. The other student he was tangled with was spitting oaths like a furious cat, shoving at him roughly.

“Get _off_ me, Potter! You idiot!”

“Scorpius!” Al scrambled backwards, wincing as he put pressure on his tender knee. “I'm sorry, I--”

Scorpius sat up slowly, looking a little dazed and very angry. He tested his elbow, cringing. “I should jinx you into next week,” he snarled. “Watch where you're going, you stupid--”

“SHHH!” Al threw himself forward, muffling Scorpius's outburst with his hands. Scorpius grabbed his wrists to shove him off, glaring murder, but then they both froze at Evaine's voice, dangerously close.

“Hurry it up,” she was saying. “We have to make sure everything's ready for Monday night.”

“I can't wait,” one of her friends snickered. “The looks on their _faces_...”

“Shush,” Evaine snapped. “Wait until we get to the meeting.”

Al and Scorpius had been staring at each other during the brief exchange, both holding their breath. Belatedly Al realized the voices were getting even closer. Any second now the Slytherins would pass the corridor where he and Scorpius were sprawled helplessly on the floor. With no nearby witnesses, Evaine would probably be only too happy to gang up on them and land them both in the infirmary all weekend.

Scorpius seemed to have come to the same conclusion. He jerked his head to the right, indicating a broom closet, and the both of them scooted hastily through it just in the nick of time. They crouched in the dark room, panting quietly, and listened as the others moved on by.

“ _Lumos_ ,” Al whispered the second he thought it was safe to do so. He found Scorpius already staring at him, his lips thin in consternation. “They're up to something.”

“Oh, you think?” Scorpius hissed sarcastically. He tested his elbow again, carefully. “Didn't sound like anything good.”

“The Marathon,” Al gasped. “The Marathon is on Monday, right after dinner. Everyone will be there. Whatever they're going to do, it's gonna be aimed at the whole school.”

Scorpius frowned. “Or they want to do something in the castle itself,” he suggested. “While no one else is around.”

Al paused, chewing it over. After a moment, he got to his feet, full of determination. “Whatever they're up to, I'm going to finally get to the bottom of this. I need some kind of proof if I'm going to go to a Professor about it.”

Scorpius stared up at him, frown deepening. “If Evaine catches you--”

“She won't. I'll be careful. Anyway, I have to take that chance. Obviously no one else is looking into this. Except Lily, but they know to look out for her, don't they?” Before Scorpius could argue, he edged the door open and slipped out. He slipped down the hallway as quietly as he could, straining his ears and hearing the fading voices of Evaine and her friends.

There were one or two close calls, but he stayed far enough behind them that it was fairly easy to duck into empty classrooms or around corners. They were headed into the lower levels, and his heart sank as he realized where they were probably headed.

“The dungeons,” a voice murmured right behind him, and he leapt into the air, barely choking back a shout of surprise. He whirled around to glare furiously at Scorpius, who looked amused by his reaction.

“How long have you been following me??”

“Not very observant, are you?” Scorpius drawled. “You make a horrible spy. Anyway, as I was saying, they're obviously heading for the dungeons. The Slytherin common room. Where _you_ can't follow.”

Al turned his back on the boy deliberately, continuing down the hall. Maybe Scorpius was wrong. Maybe they were heading for the potions classroom or something. Scorpius continued to follow him in smug silence, but Al wouldn't even give him the satisfaction of looking back at him.

He realized belatedly that it had gotten very quiet up ahead, and faltered right before turning a corner. Had they stopped, suspecting they were being followed? Or had they already reached their destination? He thought he heard a harsh whisper, then stealthy footsteps--

Scorpius realized what was happening a split second before Al did. He seized Al's arm and yanked him back away from the corner. “She's sending someone back to check,” he hissed.

Al turned, looking around frantically. If they went sprinting down the hall, they'd be in full view of whoever came around the corner, and would probably catch a couple jinxes in the back. But the only nearby door was too far away to reach in time. Scorpius seemed to think it was worth the risk; he hauled Al across the hallway at a dead run and seized the handle.

It remained stubborn and unmoving in his hand. Locked.

Al heard a hissed curse from somewhere over his shoulder, then suddenly someone grabbed his shoulder and pulled him. Something voluminous and soft fell all around him, and the only thing that kept him from gasping was a small hand pushing hard against his mouth. He froze, disoriented and fearful, staring at Dumford, who'd just stepped around the corner and was looking right at him, blinking in confusion.

Slowly the scene clicked into place in Al's panicked mind. It was Lily's hand over his mouth. She was crushed up against him, holding his mouth shut with one hand and clutching Scorpius's sleeve in the other from where she'd also pulled him under--

Al took in a sharp breath through his nose. What he'd thought in a moment's confusion was some sort of sheer blanket or veil could only be one thing, because Dumford was giving a puzzled shake of his head and turning to return to Evaine without saying anything.

Slowly Lily released both boys, panting quietly and staring at Dumford's back until the bigger boy had vanished around the corner.

“Lily!” Al hissed, taking a fistful of the cloth and staring at it in bewilderment. “Is this-- How did--”

“Yes,” Lily whispered furiously, “it's Dad's old invisibility cloak. He sent it to me at the start of the year because I was so frightened about getting stuck in Slytherin. You two are lucky I was already tailing Evaine. Are you _trying_ to end up in the infirmary?”

Al just gaped at her, at a loss for words. The bulky package she'd received her first night-- it hadn't been a Weasley sweater after all. Harry had sent her one of the most valuable things he owned to help her hide from the bullies in her new House. He tried to squash a sudden surge of jealousy. It stung, but the truth was that Lily had obviously needed it more.

Scorpius had also taken a part of the cloak in his hands and was running it across his palm over and over in stunned wonderment. He stuck his foot out from under the cloak and stared down at what appeared to be a shoe and ankle with no leg attached. “This is how you've managed to keep spying on Evaine without getting hung by the rafters.”

Suddenly a lot of things made sense. Al pointed accusingly at his sister. “So _this_ is why you look so tired all the time; you keep wandering around the castle under this thing, trying to catch Evaine getting up to no good.”

Lily shrugged. “I also just wanted to explore the castle. And it helped me get away when some of the meaner kids picked on me.”

“I saw Peeves throwing stuff at the floor once, near some armor. The night I had detention. I thought he was just making a mess... but he caught you, didn't he?”

“Yeah, he caught a glimpse of me once when I was tailing Dumford. He knew I was there somewhere.” Lily glanced up at Al, chewing nervously on her lip. “I'm sorry I didn't tell you, Al. Dad suggested I keep it to myself for now, and only use it in emergencies. I knew telling James would be a bad idea, but I really did plan on telling you once I figured out what Evaine was up to.” She gave Scorpius a wary look. “I never really planned on telling _you_ , so you have to _promise_ to keep this a secret, Malfoy. I mean it.”

Scorpius dropped the corner of cloak and sighed with obvious bad grace. “Fine, whatever. I guess I might owe you for saving me from a thrashing.” He looked down the hall. “We've lost them by now. Whatever they're planning, we have no way of knowing what it is, and we didn't hear enough to report them.”

“They were headed for the Slytherin dungeon,” Lily said promptly. “I heard them mention it before I doubled back to save your bacon. You and I might be able to eavesdrop on them there under this.”

“What about me?” Al demanded.

“Forget it,” Scorpius said.

“I really don't think we should risk smuggling you in there in the middle of the day,” Lily admitted. “We'll see if we find out anything and let you know, all right? Send Trinity down and I'll have her fetch you if it turns out being anything important, all right?”

Al shrugged, defeated. He was curious about the Slytherin dungeon, but the consequences of getting caught far outweighed his curiosity. He looked at Scorpius, eyebrows raised. “Why do you suddenly care about this? You seemed pretty stubborn about looking the other way when I asked you about this in the library.”

Scorpius sneered at him. “Because they're obviously planning something that could turn out to be bad. And because you're actually willing to bring a Professor into it. If this is connected to whatever is making my dad's life difficult, it might help put a stop it.”

Al thought of Draco Malfoy's disheveled appearance in Diagon Alley and at the Carnival, but managed to keep his questions to himself. Whatever was going on at home, Scorpius wasn't willing to share. He stepped out from under the cloak and stared at the spot where he was sure they were standing. It was weird talking to empty air. “All right, I'll send Trinity. Both of you be careful. Don't let her do anything dumb, Scorpius.”

“There isn't any dumb _left_ ,” he heard Lily huff. “All the dummy genes went to you and James.”

Al opened his mouth for a retort, but he heard their footsteps moving away. Hoping Scorpius, at least, would be cautious enough for both of them, he reluctantly turned and made his way towards Gryffindor tower to fetch Trinity.

 

~*~

 

Felicia came looking for him soon afterwards, and he gave her an abbreviated version of what had happened. At the last second he decided not to mention the invisibility cloak. He trusted Felicia, but the cloak-- at least for now –seemed like family business. He still wasn't sure how he felt about having Scorpius in on the secret.

He was a bundle of nerves for the rest of the day. He remained in the common room so that Trinity could find him quickly if she needed to, trying half-heartedly to study for the following week's Potions exam. By late afternoon he gave up and joined Hugo and some others in a game of Gobstones. By dinnertime, Trinity still had not arrived, and he was beginning to suspect nothing was going to happen at all.

He ate dinner quickly, stealing looks towards the Slytherin table. He caught a glimpse of Scorpius once, but as usual Lily was small enough to be hidden by the older students sitting near here, so he couldn't even see her face to gauge her mood. Scorpius didn't even bother to turn and look at him.

After dinner, trying not to seem as restless as he felt, he helped Andrew with his Charms homework and watched Dustin teach Felicia how to play wizard chess. James, Roxie, Fred, and Vincent were conspicuously absent from the common room. Al wondered if they were studying again, or if James had finally decided to let them in on whatever he was up to in the greenhouse with Neville. He gave it no more than a moment's thought. He was too busy trying to guess what Evaine was up to.

Half an hour before curfew, when he was beginning to wonder if he should just go to bed so he could get his overworked brain to shush, Trinity came trotting into the common room and bounded up into his lap, demanding pets.

Al obliged, scratching her between her ears with one hand and retrieving the tiny scroll stuck under her collar with the other. He unrolled it and read the brief note, feeling a small surge of adrenaline.

_Something's happening tonight._  
_Meet me in the hall where I saved your butts earlier_  
_and I'll get you inside._

It wasn't signed, but Al understood the meaning. Tossing the note into the fireplace, he gave Trinity one last pat and shifted her over to Felicia's lap.

“Where are you going?” Dustin asked in surprise as Al rose to his feet and headed for the portrait hole. “It's almost curfew.”

“I just have to talk to Lily in the hall real quick,” Al said, trying to sound casual. “I won't be long.” He left hastily before anyone could question him further, and looked down in surprise as Trinity slipped out after him. He considered shooing her back inside, but decided at the last minute to let her tag along. Perhaps he would need a messenger if things got dicey. Picking her up and letting her drape herself across his shoulders, he hurried downstairs.

It took him a few minutes to find the right hallway. Lily was pacing with nervous energy, and looked relieved to see him when he came jogging up. “Finally! I was starting to think Trinity had run into trouble or something on her way to the tower.” She pulled the folded-up cloak out of her robe pocket and shook it out. “You ready?”

Al hesitated. He was really about to do it. Sneak into the Slyhterin common room. If he was caught, he'd definitely be stuck in detention for a week. Assuming some of the nastier Slytherins didn't punish him their own way. He really wasn't enjoying the thought of being stuffed up the chimney in their common room overnight. “First, how about you let me know what you found out?”

“Not much,” she admitted, throwing the cloak over the both of them. “Come on, this way. We need to hurry.” She led the way down the hall, explaining quietly, “Scorpius and I didn't hear much. We didn't catch up to Evaine and the others until they were wrapping up their conversation. We did hear them say there was some sort of meeting tonight, and they were going to meet in the common room as soon as everyone was in bed. That means we have awhile to wait, but I was afraid if you tried to sneak down here after curfew, you'd be caught. And I wouldn't be able to get into Gryffindor tower to smuggle you out; I don't know the password. I hope you brought your wand.” She sounded a little nervous. “I don't know what to expect, but I guess we should be ready for a fight at least, if things go wrong. And I barely know any spells at all.” She stopped. “Here we are. Most kids use the door near the school entrance, but I like this way better. Easier to get in and out unnoticed in the cloak. Evaine and her cronies sneak in and out this way, too. Especially lately.”

They were standing in front of a black narrow door. The columns on either side were decorated with countless carvings of snakes twining their way up the stone, tangled with each other. Lily turned under the cloak to look at Al with a serious expression. “Look, one of the very first rules we were told on our first day of school was _no outsiders allowed_. Like, I know all the Houses say that, and no one is supposed to visit other House common rooms, but the Slytherins are _serious_ about it. They hinted at some pretty wicked punishment for anyone caught smuggling an outsider in. They like to brag that no non-Slytherin has been inside the common room in centuries. Not even faculty.”

Al arched a brow. “I guess no one ever told them about Dad and Uncle Ron sneaking in here when they were kids.”

A smile played on Lily's lips. “Nope. And I never bothered to correct them. Anyway, I'm just saying you have to make _sure_ you stay out of sight. If Evaine catches _me_ , I just have to worry about her and her mean friends. If anyone in Slytherin catches _you_ , we are both toast. Okay? So while we're in the common room, you stay under this cloak no matter what.”

It was a little odd having Lily boss him around so firmly, but Al just nodded. She was right, after all, and he had absolutely no desire to get caught and land them both in a heap of trouble.

Lily's eyes shifted, and she frowned at Trinity. “Um, so why did you bring her?”

Al shrugged, and Trinity purred in his ear. “She wanted to come. I've kinda learned to just let her do what she wants. She usually knows what she's doing.”

Lily sighed quietly and let it drop. “Okay. Here we go.” She turned to the door and said clearly, “Serpentine.”

The door opened slowly inwards, without so much as a squeak from its rusted hinges. Lily took a deep breath, checked to make sure the cloth was covering them both fully, and led the way inside.

 

 


	13. The Deep Dungeons

They descended a steep set of spiraling stone stairs, the walls lined with torches flickering with eerie green flames. At the bottom of the staircase was another narrow door, which Lily edged open carefully, peeking around the frame before motioning for Al to follow. They both slipped through, trying not to open the door any more than they had to. They stopped inside the common room and Lily looked around cautiously, perhaps trying to see if Evaine was already there. Al, meanwhile, was craning his head to and fro, taking it all in. This could well be his one chance to see the Slytherin common room, where his sister spent so much of her time. He was curious to see this part of her life.

The common room looked bigger than the one in Gryffindor tower, but that could have been because there weren't very many students in the room during the evening, or because of the big glass windows. The windows, he realized with a start, looked right out into the lake. It was very dark, but the lights from inside the room cast just enough light for him to see undulating shapes he took to be water plants, and every now and then a fish or something bigger would flash past. Under the sounds of the fire crackling in the enormous fireplace and the chatter of the students was the constant, almost soothing sound of the water moving against the windows and the castle walls. He thought he even heard, very faintly, something like singing.

“Mermaids,” Lily said under her breath, following his gaze. “Sometimes they come right up to the windows. Usually they just make awful faces to tease us, but sometimes they sing or play-fight. They like to show off. I even saw the giant squid once. Well, one of its tentacles, anyway.”

Al nodded, a little stunned. The windows and the view were probably the most impressive thing. As he tore his gaze away from the glass to look at the rest of the room, he felt himself shudder. The décor wasn't bleak, but it wasn't very welcoming, either. Just about everything, from the furniture to the stones that made up the fireplace, was black. The eerie green torches were more prominent here, and even the ancient-looking chandelier above had little green tongues of flames on its candles. The whole room was doused in green and black. The couch's cushions were emerald green, but the wood was black. Several of the chairs were the same. The only non-green fire was the one in the fireplace, where three upperclassmen were seated bent over some schoolbooks, arguing heatedly about poisons and antidotes. Al hoped fervently it was for a Potions assignment and not some nefarious plot to poison everyone's breakfast.

There were a few long desks that could seat four people at a time. Most were just covered in scarves, gloves, papers, toys, and schoolbooks tossed there by careless students on their way through to the dormitories, but there was one older Slytherin seated at the furthest one, helping two first-years with their homework. Two other kids were curled up on a padded bench by the windows playing some kind of card game and laughing, and someone else was sprawled on the thick fur rug, deeply engrossed in a book, their pet toad perched on their head like a small warty hat.

Lily had been watching him with a small grin. “Not what you were expecting?” she murmured.

“I... don't know,” Al admitted quietly. “I mean, I guess I expected it to look creepy. And it does, kind of.” Creepy, but oddly cozy. “But everyone seems pretty... normal.”

“What, you thought Slytherin students just huddled together muttering about evil plots and practicing horrible curses on each other in their down time?”

Al cringed, unwilling to admit that he kind of _had_ been expecting that.

“I told you, there are plenty of Slytherins that aren't at all like Evaine,” Lily whispered. “Some of them are actually pretty nice most of the time. But they tend to get defensive around other Houses. Sometimes for good reason. I guess it's also just so...”

“Ingrained?”

“Yeah. They act how everyone expects them to act. Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, heck, even Slytherin itself. Everyone expects Slytherins to _be_ a certain way, yanno? Even the professors. So that's what they act like. Some of them are like that all the time, but a lot of them aren't once they're in here away from everyone else.” She sighed, watching the Slytherin helping the first-years. “It's an easy act to fall into, and pretty hard to get out of. I've caught myself acting like that sometimes in class. It's easier to act all Slytherin-like when you're surrounded by other Slytherins and there's lots of other Houses acting all distrustful around you. You get snappy and you tease people because the other Slytherins with you egg you on and enjoy a good insult, and you want their approval. And you feel kind of... I dunno, powerful? When some frightened little Hufflepuff goes walking fast the other way to avoid you as you're something powerful or dangerous, and not just some dumb kid trying to figure out how to pass Charms class.”

Al gave her a displeased look, and she shrugged, looking embarrassed. “I didn't say I was proud of it,” she muttered. “I'm just saying it's a habit you pick up quick here, and I'm guessing it gets harder to break the longer you're here. The stuff the fifth House pulled only made it worse, you know.”

Al took in a slow breath through his nose, trying to crush his unease. Lily might act up sometimes, eager to gain approval of her House members, but that didn't make her a bad person. Surely she'd never done anything really mean. And if she was aware of it, he had to have faith that she wouldn't let the stigma of her House define her. “We can't just hang out by this door; someone else might try to use it. Where can we hide where no one will bump into us?”

Lily hesitated, looking around. “I know Hillary went to bed, but Eun-Ha should've been back from the owlery by now. I hope she's already in bed, too. Last thing we need is her coming out here looking for me.” She led the way along the wall to a far corner. She brushed aside cobwebs and they sat down on the floor. “Scorpius will be up soon. I told him I'd wait here.”

“Up?”

She pointed towards two doorways he hadn't noticed before. “The dormitories are lower down. That's the boys' on the right. He's hanging around down there, keeping an eye on Dumford. He said once it looked like most of the people were heading to bed, he'd come up here and make some sort of distraction.”

“What for?”

“So he can get under the cloak without being seen.” When Al gave her a startled look, she lifted her hands helplessly. “He insisted on coming with us. I guess he really meant what he said earlier. He wants proof of what Evaine's up to so he can go straight to Shacklebolt.”

“Not Zabini?”

Lily chewed nervously on a lock of red hair. “Maybe he isn't sure he can trust the professor. I mean... Zabini's a pureblood, isn't he? At least, I always kind of assumed he was.”

“He was never a Death Eater, though.”

“Because he was a kid back then,” Lily reminded him. “Remember, Dad said it was really unusual that Draco was even accepted as one of them at his age. No one but Dad even believed it for awhile. And that was just so Voldemort could use him to get at Dumbledore. And punish the Malfoys.” She twirled her hair tightly around her finger over and over, biting her lip. “I'm not saying Zabini's definitely Death Eater material, but you said yourself you think this is a pureblood matter, and _he's_ a pureblood.”

“So is Shacklebolt.”

Lily stared at him wide-eyed. “I... what? He is?”

“Yeah. Professor Binns mentioned it when he told us about the Sacred Twenty-Eight last year.”

“You pay attention in History of Magic?”

“Har har. Some of us do want to pass exams, you know.”

“Hmm.” Lily twisted and untwisted her hair, staring off into space. “Well... so were the Weasleys, right? Though not with Mum and Uncle Ron going off and marrying half-bloods. I'm guessing that made some purebloods mad.” She fell silent a moment, thinking about that. Al also found himself feeling uneasy. The Weasleys had never flaunted their pureblood status, and it was not a subject that came up very often. If other purebloods were angry at the Weasley family, the news had been kept from the children. He knew the Death Eaters, at least, had viewed the family as traitors during the last war.

Lily gave herself a shake. “Anyway, Mum's family was obviously never interested in hurting anyone. Shacklebolt is the same way. And I guess even Malfoy recognizes that.”

“I guess.” They fell silent, leaning back against the cool stone wall and watching the other students. Trinity crawled down into Al's lap and dozed, purring softly in her sleep. He wasn't sure how long they sat there, waiting for everyone to go bed, but he must have started to nod off at one point, because Lily had to shake him some time later to rouse him.

“Look. It's Evaine,” she whispered.

That got his full attention. He sat up straight, looking around. The first-years who had been at the desk had disappeared, presumably off to bed. The older boy who'd been helping them was collecting all the books from the study session and stacking them neatly to the side. Evaine was standing in the middle of the common room, scowling into the fire. The students still clustered around the fireplace kept glancing up at her a little nervously, perhaps wondering if her foul mood would descend on them. Finally they decided not to risk it and collected their things, scurrying off towards the dormitories. Al was mildly surprised. They were at least a year older. Evaine must have made a name for herself as a bully even in her own House.

Then Dumford and Richmond came stomping out of the boys' dormitory, looking as if they'd rather be curled up in bed. They began hassling the few remaining students to get them to leave.

“If Malfoy's going to do something, he'd better do it quick,” Lily whispered.

As if on cue, something small and dark came sailing out of the dormitories. As soon as it hit the floor, it exploded into a thick, dark cloud of smoke that was impossible to see through. Evaine and the others gave yells of alarm as it covered them. Al spotted Scorpius slip out of the dormitories and hurry over towards the corner he and Lily were hiding in.

Lily poked her head out of the cloak and hissed at him; Scorpius hastened over and ducked under the cloak as she lifted it up for him. “A little something I bought in your uncle's shop,” he explained under his breath. “I'm not sure how long it's supposed to last.”

Al, who'd seen Roxie use the trick once, checked all the corners of the cloak to make sure no part of them was peeping out. “Not long.”

Within a couple of minutes, the opaque smoke had faded away, leaving Evaine, her friends, and the few other Slytherins who were still in the common room looking bewildered and irritated.

“Some stupid first-year playing a joke,” Richmond finally declared, glaring around the room in search of the culprit. He was not as bulky as Dumford, but he had a mean face and broad shoulders. “If I find out who did it, I'll feed them to the squid.” He pointed towards the dormitories and barked, “Get to bed, you lot!”

The other students jumped in alarm, and scuttled off.

“Right,” Evaine said once she and the two boys were alone. “Let's go.”

Dumford pointed his wand at the fireplace and muttered something under his breath. The fire spun crazily, like a wild fire tornado, faster and faster, growing tall and thin. Then it disappeared in a puff of smoke.

“C'mon,” Lily whispered. “Stand up really slowly.” As they did so, Al kept his eye on Evaine. She'd walked up to the fireplace and was bending over, studying the stones.

She gave a grunt of satisfaction and straightened. Taking out her own wand, she slashed it across her palm, wincing slightly as blood welled up. She reached out, pressing her bloody palm against one of the stones.

The back of the fireplace swung open like a stone door at her touch. Lily was unable to stifle a gasp, but the sound of the grinding stones drowned it out.

“Right,” Evaine said, wiping her hand off on her robes. “Let's go make sure everything's ready for Monday. _Lumos._ ” Holding her lit wand aloft, she led the way through the dark hole in the back of the fireplace.

“Quick,” Scorpius urged. The three of them ran across the common room as silently as they were able, and ducked through the opening behind Dumford. Then they froze as the door sealed itself behind them with a scraping thud.

“No going back now,” Lily murmured, her voice a little shaky. “Maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all.”

Scorpius didn't answer, but Al could feel how tense his arm was from where they were standing close together under the cloak.

“I don't s'pose you have that sunstone I gave you?” Lily asked hopefully.

Al shook his head. He'd put the sunstone in his trunk after the Carnival and all but forgotten about it. He hadn't even left it out in the sun to soak up the light yet. “Come on,” he said, pointing to the light of Evaine's wand bobbing downwards. From the light of her wand, he could just barely make out a flight of stairs in front of him. “We need to keep up, or we'll lose the light.”

They shuffled down the stairs, careful to keep a healthy distance from Evaine and the others without losing track of the light and making sure they didn't stick any bits out from under the cloak and give themselves away.

The stairs seemed to go on forever. It was a tense and tedious trip, especially since they didn't dare talk. Every time Evaine or the two boys even whispered to each other, their voices echoed. Al was pretty sure if Evaine heard his voice echoing in the stairwell behind her, she'd throw a curse and ask questions later.

Finally, after they'd been descending for what felt like hours, they began to hear other voices below. Then there was faint light. It was firelight against the stones, and would normally have barely been enough to even count as light, but after such a long time with no other illumination but the distant bob of Evaine's wand, it almost seemed like daylight.

Scorpius put a hand on Al's chest, stopping him abruptly. Ignoring Al's confused look, he frowned at Lily. “You know where we are?” he murmured, lips barely moving. Al had to strain to hear him.

Lily nodded hesitantly. “I think so.” She wasn't able to speak as quietly, but the voices from below covered up the sound of her voice. “The deep dungeons. I heard some of the upperclassmen talking about them. I thought they were just a story, like the one about the pool on the astronomy tower.”

Al stepped on Scorpius's foot to get his attention. “The what?” he mouthed.

“Someone-- no one can agree if it was Salazar Slytherin or the first caretaker –had dungeons constructed deep beneath the school. They were supposedly for students that _really_ misbehaved, though Father had also heard that they were used for actual criminals. I guess it was before Azkaban became the go-to prison, since Hogwarts is supposed to be so secure. Later, as the castle grew and these dungeons were forgotten, the 'dungeons' we know now were built on top of them. The Potions classroom, our common room.” He shrugged. “No one really knows anymore what the original dungeons were really for, or who put them here. But I didn't think they were real. I have no idea how Evaine even found them.”

“Come on,” Lily whispered. “We need to find out what they're doing down there.”

They snuck down the remaining stairs, and hesitated at the arched doorway below.

Al looked around inside the dungeons, his heart hammering in his ears. Suddenly he wished he'd never agreed to such a foolhardy plan.

The deep dungeon was bigger than any room he'd ever seen in Hogwarts. It was an enormous circular room, with cell doors lined up at regular intervals around the walls. Some were closed, many were hanging open. The ceiling was surprisingly high, and from it hung chandeliers like the ones in the Slytherin common room, emitting eerie green light. There were other things hanging up there, too. Chains, manacles, and odd narrow cages. Al thought he saw what looked suspiciously like a skeleton in one of them and hastily lowered his gaze. There was other creepy equipment scattered around the room: low wooden tables with unpleasant dark stains, chairs with spikes or chains on them, shelves full of odd-looking tools and jars, all of it covered in a thick layer of dust and cobwebs.

There were also several stools that looked more modern, and three other people were getting up out of them to greet Evaine and the others. In the very center of the room was a big metal chest. Al couldn't help but notice it was more than big enough to hold a grown man, if he was hunched up on his side. The sight of it sent a shiver up his spine. Something about it felt _wrong_. The metal was black and there were three huge padlocks keeping the lid closed. There were two people standing on either side of the box, though they didn't get too close. Both of them had their faces covered with some sort of dark veil. So did the others who were talking to Evaine. And there was one other person, leaning against one of the cell doors, kind of small, their face also veiled. They didn't go and greet Evaine. The way their head was turned, Al was sure they were staring at the box. There was some kind of shining white cloud pooled by their feet, shifting and swirling.

“Here.” One of the Slytherins-- or was it? Al wondered suddenly. All of them were in plain black robes, with no distinguishing ties or patches. Whoever it was, they were handing veils to Evaine, Dumford, and Richmond.

“It's dumb wearing these down here,” Richmond grumbled, trying his over his face with great reluctance. “It's just us.”

“You were supposed to put them on before you even came in here,” one of the others said irritably. “What if there'd been a spy down here or something, or you were followed?”

Lily shifted her feet uneasily.

“Don't be paranoid,” Evaine sneered. She wasn't putting on her own veil. She glanced nervously towards the box, then turned to the figure leaning against the cell door. “So? Is everything ready for Monday?”

“Of course,” the small figure said, speaking so quietly and calmly that Al wasn't even positive if it was a boy or a girl. “We just need to test it.”

Evaine swallowed visibly, shooting the metal box another wary look. “Right... And you're sure you can, er, control it?”

“Yes. Now put on the veil so we can test it.”

Evaine took in a shuddering breath and obediently wrapped the veil around her face. Dumford and Richmond followed suit without further argument. The small bossy person pushed themself away from the cell door, and everyone else trooped over to stand behind them.

Al and the others stepped further into the room, on edge but eager to see what the big secret was. Trinity, still draped across Al's shoulders, went very still and tense and growled low in her throat.

“Let her out,” the one in charge said.

The tallest of those gathered raised his wand and jabbed it at one of the cell doors. It swung open, and a moment later a small figure in pajamas stumbled out.

Lily had to clap both hands over her mouth to remain silent, her eyes wide and frightened. It took Al a moment to recognize the girl who was now standing in the middle of the room, shaking and looking pitifully outnumbered. Eun Ha, Lily's Muggle-born friend. She had no wand, and kept shooting scared looks from the group of veiled students to the stairs. She didn't seem to have noticed the strange box yet.

After a moment's agonizing indecision, she began limping quickly towards the stairs, favoring her right leg heavily.

The small veiled person in charge raised their wand almost lazily, and the locks on the box snapped open and fell to the ground. With another wand wave, the strange pool of white mist at their feet gathered itself together into some sort of shape, sliding back and forth in front of the veiled purebloods. Al stared at it. The more it undulated, the clearer it became. It looked like an enormous white python.

“Is that what I think it is?” Scorpius hissed.

He'd barely gotten the words out of his mouth when the lid of the box burst open and something erupted out of it, bigger than a man and dark as a shadow.

Lily, Al, and Scorpius stood frozen huddled together, staring in horror.

Al had never seen one before, outside of a sketch in his Defense Against the Dark Arts textbook. But the ragged dark robes, the skeletal hands, the hood... The python, it was a Patronus, he realized with a bolt of terror.

Eun Ha had turned to see what was coming, and as soon as she saw the frightening apparition, she screamed. Al felt like screaming himself. Trinity hissed loudly right in his ear.

The Slytherins had a Dementor.

 


	14. The Raven

Eun Ha was still hobbling a little, but her fear blotted out her pain; she moved towards the stairs with a surprising turn of speed, desperate to escape.

The Dementor didn't follow her right away. It floated in the middle of the room, emanating cold. Its faceless hood turned slowly to regard the python Patronus and the students hiding behind it. Al didn't even have time to savor the sight of Evaine trembling from head to foot, because a moment later the Dementor had already turned away to focus on Eun Ha.

“Get her under the cloak,” Scorpius said, his voice a bit higher with fear. “Quick!”

Al looked around desperately as the Dementor began to float towards them. He wracked his brain for everything he'd ever learned about the terrifying creatures. The only spell that had any real effect on them was the Patronus Charm, and none of them knew it. If he could just distract it long enough, maybe they could grab Eun Ha and get out of the dungeons, locking it inside.

“We need to disrupt the one with the Patronus,” he insisted, still trying to think how they were going to do that without giving themselves away.

“On it,” Lily squeaked. She yanked something out of her robes and fumbled with it a moment. “If I bean them in the head, that should do it. Lift the edge of the cloak just a bit.” As Al obeyed automatically, he glanced down and realized she was holding his slingshot, the Muggle toy Vincent had given him.

Slipping in a hard candy for ammunition, she pulled the strap back as far as she could, squeezing one eye shut to try and focus. After a moment she released the strap, and the candy shot across the room. Al immediately dropped the cloth over her arm again.

Lily's aim was off at such a distance; she struck the leader in the shoulder instead, but it was enough to make them jerk reflexively, and the white python wavered. Immediately the other veiled students began shouting.

“Where did that come from?” “What was that?” “Concentrate, concentrate! The Patronus is fading!”

Scorpius raised his wand as if to send a spell next, but Al grabbed his sleeve. “Stop it,” he said hastily. “If that Patronus disappears altogether... Not even those jerks deserve the Dementor's Kiss.” His eyes lifted to the chandeliers and the cages above. Pointing his wand upwards, he hissed, “ _Diffindo!_ ” The spell sliced through the chain for one of the cages occupied by a crumbling skeleton. The cage fell like a stone, crashing to the ground between Eun Ha and the Dementor and causing the creature to pause.

Eun Ha, who had almost reached them, screamed, throwing her hands instinctively over her head. Lily reached out and seized her, dragging her under the cloak. “Run!” she yelled.

Clutching the cloak against themselves and supporting Eun Ha, they turned and sprinted up the stairs, Scorpius's wand lighting the way. Trinity clung to Al's shoulders with her claws, yowling.

“Someone is over there!” Evaine shrieked. “By the stairs, they vanished! _Stupefy_!” Al heard the spell hit the bottom step, but they were already well out of range, taking the stairs two at a time. They ran and ran, leaving the chaos behind them, gasping for breath, all of them too terrified to look back and see if the Dementor was following them.

“Lily!” Eun Ha sobbed, stumbling. “Where did you-- How-- _They were going to let it get me!_ ”

“Run now, panic later,” Al wheezed.

They ran.

They ran until Al thought he would collapse, and then they finally reached the top of the stairs and the solid unyielding stone wall.

“How do we open it?” Lily wailed, pounding at it with her fists.

“There's got to be a latch or something,” Al said desperately, shining his own wand all around. Trinity dug her claws in, hard, and Al winced. Glancing at her, he saw her staring intently at the wall. “There!”

Scorpius turned, shining his wand on another of the snake symbols. He pushed it, but nothing happened.

“Evaine used her blood to open it before,” Al remembered. “But what if it only works for members of their freaky little club?”

Scorpius cringed. “Or maybe it only works for purebloods.” He hesitated for a heartbeat, then held out his hand towards Al. Trinity growled and swiped at him, leaving a line of bloody scratches on his palm. Scorpius winced and put his hand to the symbol, and Al could have wept with relief when the wall rumbled open.

“It's coming,” Lily said suddenly, throwing a fearful look over her shoulder.

“Come on, come on,” Al urged, and they all tumbled out of the fireplace into the Slytherin common room. A moment later the door started to creak shut-- then froze as a knobby grey hand seized it around the edge. Lily and Eun Ha screamed.

“Run!”

Al wasn't sure who shouted it, but they all sprinted for the exit. At the last second, Lily grabbed Al by the back of his robes and hauled him up short. “Wait!” she yelled. “If we leave it here, it'll get into the dormitories.”

Scorpius cursed. “We have to lead it out of here,” he admitted, looking even paler than usual. “Get it to a Professor.”

Al shrugged off the cloak hastily. He was so scared, every limb was shaking. “You and Eun Ha stay under this,” he urged Lily. “Head for Zabini's office. Scorpius and I will try to find Flitwick, he's the only other one close enough. _Go!_ ”

Still cursing, Scorpius ducked out from under the cloak as well, just as the Dementor slipped into the fireplace and turned its dark hood their way.

“ _Stupefy!”_ Al shouted, waving his wand desperately at the Dementor. It didn't effect the thing, but he was sure he had its attention.

“Go go go,” Scorpius practically screamed, shoving Al ahead of him.

They threw open the common room door and booked it down the hall, the Dementor floating after them quicker than expected.

“Help help!” Al shouted at the top of his voice. “Dementor!”

Scorpius joined in, both of them shouting themselves hoarse, praying a Professor would arrive, running down the hall towards Flitwick's office as if their lives depended on it.

Which, Al thought morbidly, they kind of did.

To make things worse, the Dementor was just close enough behind them to start affecting them. Al's strength, his will to keep going, any kind of hope or joy he'd ever felt, seemed to be leeching out of him. Al slowed, stumbling, and so did Scorpius. Their voices were croaky, barely much more than frantic whispers. A deep deep cold settled in Al's bones.

What was the point? No one was coming. The Dementor was going to get them both. Al managed to take two more shuffling steps, then fell to his knees, hard. Scorpius collapsed beside him a moment later, head bowed, breathing laboriously. A heavy depression settled over them both like a smothering cloud, making even crawling seem like too much work.

Dimly Al thought he could hear running feet approaching them, but what did it matter? He rolled onto his back, staring up at the Dementor hovering over him. He was going to lose his soul, nothing mattered anymore.

Then a voice, oddly familiar, roared, “ _Expecto Patronum!_ ”

Something white and brilliant flashed down the hall with a screech and cannoned into the Dementor. The dark creature hissed furiously, immediately retreating. Al lifted himself shakily onto his elbows, just in time to see the Dementor go fleeing down the hall, pursued by what could only be a Patronus.

“AL!!” Someone came running up, and then rough hands were seizing him, trying to haul him to his feet. “ _Al!_ ”

The desperation in the voice shook away some of his lassitude. He shook his head hard, reaching out and grabbing the robes of whoever was holding him, allowing them to help him to his feet. “James?” he mumbled.

He'd never seen his brother look so frightened, even when Al had taken that hard tumble on the Quidditch field the prior year. James gave a shaky laugh and pulled Al into a fierce bear hug. “Merlin's beard,” he croaked. “That was close!”

Al blinked, feeling as if he was awakening from a heavy sleep full of nightmares. He hugged his brother back clumsily, staring over James's shoulder. Vincent, Roxie, and Fred were there, too, looking wild-eyed and frightened. Vincent was helping Scorpius to his feet.

“What have you done?” Fred demanded, glaring accusingly at Scorpius.

“He had nothing to do with it,” Al said quickly, wriggling out of the hug. He looked around at them, then back down the hall. “We have to get a Professor. But whose--”

The Patronus was soaring back down the hall towards them. James lifted his wand, and the Patronus came to him obediently. Al saw that it was an enormous raven, pure white and glittering. Then it reached James and faded away.

Al stared at his brother, agog. “You? That was _your_ Patronus? But how-- when--?”

James flashed a quick, tense grin. “Later. Come on, let's get some help.”

 

~*~

 

After that, things were very chaotic for awhile. They roused Professor Flitwick, and at the first mention of a Dementor, he went racing off, ordering them to remain hidden in his office while he rounded up the rest of the faculty.

Scorpius and Al gratefully collapsed in the chairs before Flitwick's short desk, while the others roamed the room restlessly. Within minutes, they could hear pounding feet, shouts, and some sort of battle horn.

“They've gotten the ghosts involved,” Roxie guessed. “The Headless Hunt is joining in the search.”

They sat in silence, listening tensely to the noise. The ghosts and Professors were racing around the whole school, making sure no other students were out of bed and trying to find the Dementor.

“There, there!” they heard faintly, followed by several cries of “ _Expecto Patronum!_ ”

“They got it,” Vincent said with relief.

“They _found_ it,” Fred corrected grimly. “You can't actually kill a Dementor. What can they do, other than chase it off the grounds?”

“Good enough for me,” James said firmly. “Once it's out of the castle, the wards should keep it away, right? How did one even get in here?”

They all turned to stare at Al and Scorpius, but Al's thoughts were elsewhere. He sat bolt upright. “Lily. Do you think--?”

“That was Zabini's voice I heard,” Scorpius assured him. “She must've reached him.”

“Lily?” James went pale again. “She's out there?” He started for the door, but Vincent blocked his path.

“She'll be fine, James,” he said firmly. “Let the Professors handle this.”

“Al, what _happened_?” Roxie demanded.

“It was Evaine,” Al started to say, but just then the door swung open, and they all jumped with fright.

Zabini stood in the doorway, face like a thundercloud. Huddling behind him were Lily and Eun Ha.

“Lily!” Al and James sprang forward, and she wriggled past Zabini and let them seize her in a double hug.

“You two,” Zabini's eyes swept from Al to Scorpius. “Come with us. Leave the animal. The Headmaster wants to speak to you in his office. The rest of you, return to your House.”

“What about the Dementor?” Roxie asked, voice faltering. “Is it gone?”

Zabini barely spared her a glance. “The Headmaster and Professor Macmillan are 'escorting' it off school grounds. Now do as you're told.”

James went red in the face, looking ready to argue, but Al shook his head quickly. “I'll explain later,” he muttered, handing over Trinity. “Wait up in the common room for me.” He hoped their meeting wouldn't take long; he was dying to hear about James's Patronus.

James nodded and reluctantly stepped back. Zabini had already turned and swept away with Eun Ha on his heels. Lily, Al, and Scorpius hurried to catch up.

They came across Neville in the halls. He took one look at them and made a worried sound. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a candy bar. Breaking off two big pieces, he handed one each to Al and Scorpius. “These two look dead on their feet. Can't the questions wait until morning?”

As Al accepted the candy, something tickled at the back of his mind. Too exhausted to inspect it, he ignored the stray thought, eating the chocolate in three bites. Immediately his depression and exhaustion seemed to lift significantly.

“No, it cannot _wait_ ,” Zabini growled. “Move aside.”

Neville frowned, but stepped back, letting them pass. Zabini led the way down a hall Al had only been down once before, and stopped in front of a big stone gargoyle. “Chimera.” The gargoyle obediently leapt aside, revealing a set of winding stairs. Zabini gestured towards them. “Go upstairs and wait,” he said. “The Headmaster will be with you shortly.”

Al stared at him. He had just realized that Zabini was wearing a set of black pajamas that he had hastily thrown an open robe over. The sight would have been funny under different circumstances. He looked away quickly, and Zabini strode off without a backwards look.

Lily led the way up the stairs, clutching Eun Ha's hand and helping her when the girl stumbled, still favoring her right leg.

They reached the Headmaster's office and hesitated. Lily, Scorpius, and Eun Ha looked around curiously, having never seen it before. Al, who had visited briefly during his second year to get his Last Chance card, made a beeline for one of the soft chairs before the Headmaster's desk and collapsed in it. Lily settled Eun Ha in the other.

“It's not quite how I imagined,” Lily admitted, turning slowly in place as she took everything in. “I guess I expected it to be more... cluttered. Shiny.”

“Because every time Dad describes it in his stories, it's when Dumbledore was Headmaster,” Al pointed out wearily. Even with the chocolate, he still felt tired. Glancing at the intricate gold clock on the desk, he realized why. It was already midnight.

Lily nodded silently, staring up at the big portrait of Dumbledore. Like most of the other portraits, he appeared to be snoozing. Al stared at the portrait for a long moment, then found his gaze drifting reluctantly towards the one of Severus Snape. Snape was obviously awake, looking down his beaky nose at them in silent disapproval. Al frowned uncomfortably and looked away. Scorpius, he noted, was also staring at Snape's portrait, his expression impossible to read.

Eun Ha was sniffling quietly, and Lily came over to comfort her.

“What w-w-was that thing?” Eun Ha asked, her voice wobbling dangerously.

Lily settled herself on the chair; it was big enough for the both of them to squeeze side by side on the cushion. “A Dementor. They're terrible dark creatures. Um... Eun Ha, I need to ask you a favor.”

Eun Ha looked at her with wide eyes swimming with tears. “You s-saved my l-l-life. Anything.”

Lily shot Al a worried look. “Just... don't mention the invisibility cloak, okay? It was a gift from my father, and I'm afraid they'll, um, confiscate it or something.”

Eun Ha nodded, wiping her nose. “I w-won't say anything...”

Scorpius began pacing, looking agitated. “The longer this takes, the more time Evaine and the others have to cover their tracks,” he grumbled.

That hadn't occurred to Al, and he repressed the urge to pace as well. While the faculty had been chasing the Dementor, Evaine and her friends would have had plenty of time to concoct a counter-story to make themselves look innocent. To make things more frustrating, he had no idea who the other members of the strange club had been; their faces had been covered, and he hadn't recognized their voices.

The next fifteen minutes dragged on for what felt like hours. Finally the office door swung open and Professor Shacklebolt entered, followed by Zabini, and Neville. Zabini, Al noted with distant amusement, had finally closed up his robes so his pajamas were no longer visible. Neville, however, was wearing red plaid bedroom slippers that kept peeking out from under his robes as he walked.

“Now, then...” Shacklebolt swept over to his desk and took a seat, looking at each student with a stern eye. “I would like to know how a Dementor entered the school.”

They all started talking at once, but Shacklebolt held up one big hand to silence them. “One at a time.”

“Malfoy,” Zabini snapped. “Explain.”

Scorpius glanced at Al a little nervously.

“It was Evaine Engelton,” Al blurted.

Zabini turned a dark look his way, but when Scorpius remained silent, Shacklebolt waved for Al to continue.

Neville moved to stand behind Al's chair, giving his shoulder a quick squeeze of encouragement. Al took a deep breath and began to explain. It was difficult; he had to hide the existence of the invisibility cloak, and admitting that he had snuck into the Slytherin common room was sure to get him into a lot of trouble. He tried to be vague, painfully aware that it was obvious he was withholding something.

“We've been seeing these strange symbols all over the place, some kind of snake breaking a wand. We wanted to know what it was, so we kept asking around. And Lily noticed Evaine and her friends kept sneaking off somewhere, so she was kind of... following them. And tonight she said they were up to something big, and if it was bad, we wanted proof to bring to you, so I...” he stopped, shooting Lily a sideways look. If he tried to lie and say Lily had simply told him about the whole thing, he would not be considered a reliable witness.

“I snuck him into the Slytherin common room,” Lily said in a very small voice, staring at her shoes.

Zabini made a hissing sound of rage. Shacklebolt frowned, but said nothing, waiting.

Al cleared his throat uneasily. As briefly as he could, he described seeing Evaine and her friends enter the fireplace, and how they'd been having a secret meeting in the deep dungeons. “The rest of them had their faces covered. I don't know who they were. But they had Eun Ha in a cell. They let her out and set the Dementor on her. So we... we grabbed her and ran. But the Dementor followed us out.”

Shacklebolt turned a grave look on Eun Ha. “You were kept in a cell, Miss Park? Did you see who took you?”

Eun Ha shook her head miserably, looking like she was about to cry again. “They grabbed me when I was napping. Their faces were all covered up; I never saw. They stunned me, and I didn't wake up until I was already locked up.” And Evaine had covered her face by the time Eun Ha was released, Al realized with a sinking feeling. She couldn't even confirm their accusations that Evaine was a part of it. “They kept me in that cell for hours. I sprained my ankle kicking at the door, hoping someone would hear. Next thing I knew, the door opened and that... that _thing_ was there, waiting for me. I tried to run, and then...” She faltered, glancing sideways at Lily. “I saw Lily and the others.. hiding... by the stairs. They got me out. They saved me. B-but... I was too scared to look back at the others. The ones with their faces covered.”

“These are grievous accusations,” Shacklebolt said, looking at each of the students in turn.

“And if I may remind you,” Zabini added coolly, “there has been rivalry between Miss Engelton and the Potters for some time now. Recently she and Malfoy have had some sort of falling-out as well.”

Al glared at him, too angry to form a retort.

“Why would we lie about this?” Lily demanded shrilly. “I wouldn't accuse Evaine of this just to get her in trouble! She did this! She was a part of it!”

“The only ones able to say she was there are three students who are known for disliking her.” Zabini turned his narrow gaze Al's way. “One of them for dueling her. Miss Park suffered the worst of it, you say, yet she can't even put Miss Engelton at the scene.”

“Are you trying to say we're making this all up?” Scorpius demanded in a voice that shook with anger.

“Certainly not,” Shacklebolt interjected firmly. “A Dementor was set loose, that much is painfully obvious. And I believe Miss Park was indeed taken captive.” He rose to his feet suddenly. “Neville, please take Miss Park to the infirmary for her ankle. The rest of you, come with me. I wish to see these dungeons. Blaise?”

Scowling, Zabini turned on his heel and led the way out. They swept through the halls, Lily practically jogging to keep up, and Zabini let them into the Slytherin common room. He made Lily, Al, and Scorpius wait in the doorway while he barked orders at a few curious Slytherins milling around. The students hastily ran for their beds, and Shacklebolt ushered Al and the others over to the fireplace.

“It's gone,” Lily gasped, reaching out to touch the black stones.

Al felt his stomach sink. Where the symbol had been carved, someone had scraped at the stone so all that was left were a mess of deep scratches.

“Stand back,” Shacklebolt ordered, and they all hastily moved away. Pointing his wand at the back of the fireplace, he said, “ _Bombardo Maxima!_ ” Al ducked as the stones exploded outwards. Zabini, however, had already silently raised a shield, and the flying stones clattered harmlessly to the side.

Lowering his shield, Zabini stepped forward and looked past Shacklebolt. The two of them stood very still, staring down the dark staircase.

“Hmm,” Shacklebolt said, expression grave. He waved his wand and a brilliant ball of light flew forth and began gently drifting down the stairs, lighting the way. “Blaise, remain here and make sure no curious students attempt to follow.” He beckoned to Al and began his descent.

Zabini's face was pinched; he was clearly displeased that he would be left behind, but he said nothing. Al, Scorpius, and Lily skirted around him and hurried after Shacklebolt into the unsettling gloom, comforted by the large wizard's presence.

 


	15. Fallout and Secrets

The descent seemed shorter this time, though it was probably due to the fact that they no longer had to be slow and stealthy, and Shacklebolt's light illuminated every stair.

When they reached the deep dungeons, Shacklebolt walked out to the middle of the room and stood very still. Only his head turned as he looked around, taking it all in. Al and the others paused near the stairwell, also looking around as if hoping to find some glaringly obvious sign that Evaine herself had been here.

But the strange veiled group had cleaned up after themselves. The box that had held the Dementor had vanished. The stools that had been set up neatly before the box were now scattered carelessly as if they'd not been touched in years. Several cell doors hung ajar. There wasn't so much as a footprint in the dust to suggest anyone else had set foot in the dungeon for the last hundred years. The only sign of the struggle that Al could see was the cage he'd brought crashing down. But this could easily be chalked up to time and weight wearing the chain away until the cage had fallen on its own.

Shacklebolt turned on his heel and walked directly towards the spot where the veiled group had huddled behind their python Patronus. He bent over and picked something off the ground, inspected it briefly, then straightened up and raised his wand. “ _Homenum Revelio_ ,” he said quietly, his voice nonetheless echoing in the large room.

Al shuddered as the weight of the spell passed over him briefly. “What was that?” he asked, a little ashamed of the quaver in his voice.

“He was checking to make sure we're the only ones down here,” Scorpius murmured, shrugging in jerky motions as if trying throw off the after-effects of the spell.

Shacklebolt stood still as a statue for another moment, then strode down the length of the room. Al, Lily, and Scorpius exchanged a wary glance and shuffled after him.

Shacklebolt reached the far end of the dungeon and stopped, gazing up at a faded, tattered tapestry Al had not noticed before. It was enormous, at least six feet across and maybe fifteen feet high. Whatever scene it had once depicted was impossible to make out. Time, insects, and damp had ruined the thread. Shacklebolt flicked his wand and the tapestry rolled up, sending clouds of dust everywhere. Several frightened spiders scuttled for cover, causing Lily to grab Al's arm in a deathgrip.

Behind the tapestry was a hidden door.

“Damn,” Scorpius muttered.

Al glanced at him, puzzled. “What?”

“There's no way that leads to the Slytherin dungeons; it's too far away already, and the stairs are probably leading in the wrong direction.” Scorpius stepped aside to let a huge centipede scurry past his shoe. “That means it's possible another House could access these Dungeons.”

Shacklebolt gave the door an experimental tug, and it opened with a loud squeal of rusty hinges. He gazed up a flight of dark stairs, then turned to his students, expression grave. “I will see where this leads. Please return to Professor Zabini.”

Al wanted to argue, but one look at the darkened doorway, and his courage quailed. “All right,” he said meekly. He turned and led the way back to the other stairwell, glancing back once in time to see Shacklebolt disappear through the hidden door.

Lily looked shaken. “Scorpius, what you said... about another House getting into the Dungeons. Are you saying some of those people down here might've been like... Ravenclaws or Gryffindors or something?”

Al bristled. “Gryffindors wouldn't have anything to do with this!”

“Don't be naïve,” Scorpius growled at him, holding up his wand for light as they climbed the stairs once more. “Anyway, the _point_ is that we don't know. There's a door that probably leads to another House, or maybe a public area. The symbol on our fireplace was scratched off, and the only way to enter was by destroying the wall. There's no sign anyone was even here. And Eun Ha never saw her attackers' faces. Which means we definitely can't prove that it was Evaine and the others. It's her word against ours. And you saw what Zabini was like. The fact that we don't like her isn't exactly in our favor.”

Zabini was waiting for them impatiently in the common room. When they explained where Shacklebolt had gone, he scowled and said only, “Wait outside.”

There was no point in arguing with him when he was in such a mood, so they left the common room and settled down to wait in the hallway. Lily ended up stretching out on the floor and falling sound asleep with her head on Al's thigh. Al leaned his head against the wall and tried not to succumb to sleep himself, his eyelids feeling sandy and heavy. Scorpius sat hunched over beside him, chin propped in his hands as he blinked slowly, fighting to keep his eyes open.

Al didn't realize he'd accidentally drifted off until his head thumped against the wall. Struggling to sit upright, it took his fuzzy brain a moment to figure out why he was slumped over, and what had awoken him. He mashed his nose against Scorpius's back and heard a muttered growl of annoyance. Shoving himself away, blinking heavily, he realized he'd slid over and crashed with his head on Scorpius's shoulder, then slid down between his back and the wall when Scorpius, still bent over, had sagged almost in half as he, too, slept.

“Sorry,” Al mumbled, rubbing at his eyes. Lily was already sitting up, looking the other way. Following her gaze, Al spotted the Headmaster standing nearby, speaking quietly with several Professors. “Can you hear anything?” he asked Lily. “Where'd the other staircase end up leading?”

Lily shook her head. “I dunno. He's out of earshot, and he's bein' real quiet. But Professor Flitwick sure looks concerned. D'you think it led to the Ravenclaw common room?”

Al shrugged, frowning. There had been a lot of Ravenclaws who had joined the fifth House in order to torment Death Eater descendents. It seemed odd that they would now join what was supposedly some sort of pureblood club that sicced Dementors on defenseless Muggle-born first-years.

Scorpius was glaring at him as if he could read the thoughts right there on Al's face. “Oh, no, that's impossible,” he sneered. “Only Slytherins would make secret clubs and pick on first-years.”

Al winced and glanced away quickly. “Whether it went into the Ravenclaw tower or the middle of the dining hall, it doesn't matter. It just means you were right before; there's no real proof that Evaine was there or even that the others were Slytherins.” He fell silent as Neville came striding over, looking disturbed.

“All right, you three, that's enough excitement for one night,” he said, trying to sound cheery and failing miserably. “The Headmaster will send for you tomorrow if he has more questions. For now, you look like you could use some sleep.” He held up a cautioning finger, glancing at each of them. “I need to make sure you understand your position. The Headmaster says you aren't to speak of this to any other students, understood? Until we find out who was behind this, we can't risk the culprits finding out who you were.” He arched a brow at Lily. “Since you keep insisting there's no way they could've seen you.”

Al got the strangest feeling that Neville had figured out how they'd snuck into the dungeon, and hastily tried to distract the plump Professor. “Um, James, Roxie, Vincent, and Fred... they know we were involved, even if they don't know everything. They found us. James saved us, you know. With a Patronus.”

Neville smiled slightly, looking completely unsurprised at the news that James had performed such an advanced spell. “How fortuitous. Well, knowing those four, it'll be impossible to keep their noses out of it, so I suppose you'd better tell them just enough to keep them from asking question. But be sure they keep it to themselves. All right now, you two, off to bed. Come along, Potter, I'll escort you back to Gryffindor tower.”

 

~*~

 

James and the others were waiting for him as promised, though Roxie had dozed off and Fred had to give her a couple hard shakes to wake her. They were alone in the common room. The rest of Gryffindor had stayed up late talking excitedly about rumors of a Dementor loose in the halls, but eventually they'd drifted off to bed, chivvied along by the Prefects.

Before James could get a single question out, Al jabbed a finger in his chest and demanded, “Neville's been teaching you the Patronus Charm, hasn't he?”

“How'd _he_ figure it out?” Fred protested. “We only found out today!”

“I just figured it out a few minutes ago,” Al admitted. “I spotted you coming out of the greenhouse the other day, and saw you eat something Neville gave you. Chocolate, I guess. Just like he gave me and Scorpius. And you were trying to talk Dad into something during winter break. You wanted to learn the Patronus Charm because of those news stories, and you finally got him to give in, didn't you? Only, underage wizards can't practice outside school. So he told you to get Neville to teach you.”

James grinned a little sheepishly. “Well done, Al. Neville _was_ in Dumbledore's Army, after all, so he knew the spell.”

“I'm more surprised _they_ didn't know,” Al admitted, glancing at the others.

“I didn't want to look a fool if I couldn't do it,” James admitted in a rare moment of self-doubt. “I figured I'd learn it, then help these guys.”

“And me? Were you ever going to tell me? Or teach it to me?”

James shrugged, looking uncomfortable. “I dunno. I only recently got it to work, and anyway, it's pretty advanced magic. I don't think a third-year could handle it.”

“Dad was a third-year when _he_ learned it,” Al reminded him sharply. He stopped, taking in a calming breath. He was far too exhausted to hold on to his irritation. “Well... it _was_ pretty cool,” he admitted grudgingly. “And you definitely saved my bacon. Thanks. A raven, huh? Fits you, I guess.”

James had been puffing out his chest with pride, but deflated slightly. “What's that supposed to mean?”

Roxie laughed. “Nevermind, cousin.”

“How'd you get it to work?” Al asked, wildly curious. “You need some kind of good thinking or something, right?”

“A good _memory_ ,” James corrected with a crooked grin. “Something that really sticks with you, I guess. Just landing on one strong enough to get it to work the first time was kind of a pain. But we had such a great time at the Carnival,” he glanced at the others, “that I used that memory and finally got the Charm to work.” Vincent looked pleased.

“Oh.” Al glanced sideways at Vincent, trying to ignore the tiny bit of hurt he felt that the strong memory James had used had not even involved his immediate family. Perhaps the past couple years had been too much of a strain on them, he thought glumly. It was natural for brothers to fight, but he hated knowing it might drive a wedge between them over time.

“Did you used the same memory tonight? You went running down the hall at that Dementor thinking about spinning rides and acid pops?” Fred snorted, amused. “How'd you even manage that?”

“No, I--” James paused, looking a little embarrassed. “This time I... thought of Al. On his first day of school. When the Sorting Hat put him in Gryffindor with us.”

Al stared at him, stunned. He'd known James had been pleased that they'd ended up in the same House, but he had been unaware how happy it had really made his brother. His earlier hurt and irritation bled away at once.

Before things could get any more awkward, Roxie and Fred seized Al by the elbows and steered him into an armchair. Roxie wagged a finger under his nose. “Ok, family heartwarming stories are nice and all, but _I_ want to hear what in the name of Merlin's saggy bottom a Dementor was doing in Hogwarts. Spill, Al!”

Al didn't answer right away. It had occurred to him that it was going to be nigh impossible to tell the story without mentioning the invisibility cloak. A pack of troublemakers like James and his cousins would see right through any flimsy lie. But such a thing wouldn't stay secret for long. They would eventually figure it out themselves or hear it over the summer break.

Besides, Al had to admit he was still feeling a little buoyant knowing it was a memory of him that had allowed his brother to produce his life-saving Patronus. “Lily snuck me into the Slytherin common room tonight. Scorpius just kind of... ended up tagging along. Evaine and some of the other Slytherin purebloods have been harassing him, too, yanno. He wanted to see what they were up to.”

Fred whistled enviously. “The Slytherin dungeon... We've never been able to set foot in there. Even my dad never got to. How did Lily get you in?”

Al glanced at James, whose eyebrows had shot up and were now bunching down in suspicion.

“The invisibility cloak,” James said when Al didn't answer. “Dad gave it to her, didn't he? I should've known.”

His cousins gasped in a mix of envy and shock.

Al looked at his brother curiously. “I never knew. Didn't even suspect until she showed it to me,” he admitted.

James shrugged, looking like he was struggling to give off an air of cool nonchalance rather than jealousy. “I figured Dad would give it one of us at _some_ point. I was starting to think it wouldn't happen 'til after graduation, but with Lily being stuck in that House... Yeah, it makes sense he'd want to give her a way to hide. And I've seen her popping up all over the school all year.”

“Wait,” Vincent said hastily, “is this the same invisibility cloak you used to talk about all the time? The one your dad used when he was our age?”

James nodded silently.

“Cripes,” Fred moaned with a look of longing, “can you imagine what we'd get away with if _we_ had the cloak?”

“Which is probably exactly why James _doesn't_ have it,” Roxie pointed out dryly. “Go on, then, Al. She snuck you in under the cloak. Now get to the bit about the Dementor.”

Al repeated the story he'd told Shacklebolt. By the end, James and the others were flushed with excitement and wide-eyed with fear.

“Those damned Slytherins!” James burst out the second Al was finished. “They're going to get someone killed!”

“There's no way of knowing if they were _all_ Slytherins,” Al said glumly. “They all had masks, and there was that other passageway that led Merlin knows where.” He didn't voice the little worried question nudging at the back of his brain. What if it had led near Gryffindor tower?

“So Evaine and the others are just going to get away with it?” Roxie looked outraged.

“I dunno, I mean... it's our word against theirs.”

“Shacklebolt should just give Evaine some veritaserum,” James said. “That would clear this mess up.”

“That's illegal,” Vincent reminded him, in a tone of voice that suggested this was not the first time this argument had cropped up. “Shacklebolt could lose his job and end up in front of the Wizengamot for using truth serum on students.” He slumped down on the couch, looking aggravated but tired. “His hands are tied. Without proof, what can he really do except seal up those deep dungeons?”

“Hey, remember, you guys can't tell this to anyone,” Al said hastily. “Neville says the Headmaster wants to keep our involvement a secret. Evaine and her cronies didn't see me or Lily-- or Scorpius, for that matter. If they find out...”

“We'll keep mum,” James assured him. “But we'll keep an eye on you and Lily just the same. Evaine may suspect somehow, or go off of rumor. Either way, you need to stay away from her and her friends for the rest of the year, just in case. At least we don't have to worry about Lily as much. She can always duck under the cloak if she needs to disappear for a bit.”

Hopefully Lily would extend that protection to Scorpius if things got hairy, Al thought privately.

“But what's with this snake mark you mentioned?” Vincent mused. “You've mentioned it before, and now it seems like it's connected with this weird... cult or whatever.”

“It must be their mark, obviously,” Roxie said. “Maybe they put it in important places. I mean, this one led to their secret meeting spot.”

Al thought of the other ones he'd seen outside of the school. “I don't know. I mean, obviously it's theirs, but I've seen it in some odd places. They can't _all_ be for secret lairs.”

“It's a group of kids,” Fred pointed out a bit wryly. “They could just be tagging areas with their mark for no other reason then they were passing through.”

“That sounds likely, but...” Vincent glanced around at them with an uneasy expression. “What do we do if it _isn't_ just some group of kids pulling dangerous stunts? For all we know, this started with their parents. If this _is_ a cult or something, we have no way of knowing where it started. And I'm a lot more scared of the idea of my neighbors secretly being part of it than I am of Evaine. She almost loosed one Dementor on Hogwarts. What could a bunch of powerful adults be willing to do with the same mindset?”

Al shuddered, exchanging an unhappy look with his brother.

“Kids are gonna be pulled out of school for this,” Vincent predicted with a quiet sigh.

 

~*~

 

He was right. The very next morning, Eun Ha's foster parents yanked her out of the school, leaving Lily almost in tears at the breakfast table.

Three hours later, word got around that Mrs. Engelton herself, a stern woman who worked at the Ministry, showed up to give Shacklebolt a few choice words, and hauled her daughter home as well.

It didn't take long after that for rumors to start circulating. Everyone wanted to talk about the supposed Dementor attack. James, for a wonder, kept his word and didn't let on that he knew anything more about the incident than anyone else. Dozens of owls arrived at the head table in the dining hall, carrying worried missives from parents for Shacklebolt.

“This is so creepy,” Felicia said with a shudder as they watched a student leave the classroom, summoned to the Headmaster's office. Another frantic parent had come to bring their child home. It hadn't happened a lot, yet; most parents seemed to believe that it had just been the one Dementor, and things were now under control. Others, however, were not taking any chances. “Hopefully the Marathon takes everyone's minds off of this mess.”

Al glanced at her sideways, only half paying attention to the teapot he was trying to transfigure. He'd been debating telling her about his involvement all morning, but Neville and Shacklebolt had understandably wanted him to tell as few people as possible. There was no getting around letting his family know, but he had a feeling the Headmaster would frown on him telling anyone else. Still, he considered Felicia one of his closest friends, and it felt odd keeping such a big secret from her. He'd kept his brother's involvement with the fifth House a secret from her most of first year, and had felt lousy about it.

 _Plus,_ he reminded himself, _she's Muggle-born. The thought of Dementors has her spooked, but not scared out of her wits. And I want her to know to watch her back around Evaine more than ever._

Andrew leaned past Al to give Felicia an odd look. “The Marathon? You seriously think they'll still have it? Two of the contestants got taken back home by their folks today.”

That was news to Al, but Felicia jutted out her chin stubbornly. “Everyone _needs_ something to distract them. Cheering on classmates will do that, and I bet the Headmaster's counting on that. He'll probably just pick replacements or something.”

Al hoped so, and not just because he'd been looking forward to seeing the Marathon this year. How disappointed would Louis be if he wasn't able to compete? He was a modest boy by nature, but anyone who knew him could tell he was proud of having been picked to represent his House.

Felicia was clever, he reminded himself. She was right; everyone desperately needed something fun to look forward to, and the Marathon wasn't nearly as competitive or cutthroat as Quidditch. She wouldn't panic if he told her the truth about the Dementor, and she would be smart enough to keep an eye open for anything suspicious.

As he leaned past her slightly to check her notes, he murmured, “Meet me in the library right after lunch. I have to tell you something.”

She glanced at him, puzzled, but gave a tiny nod.

Al returned his attention to his teapot, feeling better already. It would be nice having someone else level-headed to talk to about the whole situation. So far the only other Gryffindor in on it that wasn't raring for a fight was Vincent.

There was a knock at the door, and Professor Switch turned with brows upraised in question as a seventh-year entered the classroom, bearing a note. One of Shacklebolt's message-runners, Al deduced. With so many parents checking on their children, several of the upperclassmen with free hours had been drafted to carry messages or fetch students. It was less disruptive than owls flying through classroom windows every half hour.

“The Headmaster sent me,” the tall boy said, looking flushed, as if he'd run the whole way. He glanced around, his eyes pausing on Al briefly, and then he burst out as if unable to keep his excitement contained, “It's Harry Potter. Harry Potter's _here,_ at Hogwarts!”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Pardon the delay, I got about 90% of this chapter finished ages ago and then just puttered around, having trouble finishing it.


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